Friends, hot cocoa, and Phase 10...

I have reached the end of my first week of classes. It wasn't a full week I guess (Monday was MLK JR. day), but it still counts, right? I found myself caught in this struggle to want to rush everything along even though I really have no control over the whole process. So, I'm trying to teach myself to really live in the day I have instead of rushing to the next one. I've been trying to teach myself that for the last 3 years, but now it seems a little more urgent. I only have a few more months (17 weeks to be exact. I still haven't quite gotten over my impatience to get out of Portales) before I graduate and the friends that I have and the life that I've lived and I probably part ways. So instead of worrying about what could happen to hitch up plans or really stress me out (i.e. RA difficulties, or a not so great grade on a test), I'm just trying to focus on the things that I'm enjoying right now. I spent the last two nights hanging out with a few of my best friends here just watching movies and playing games and enjoying some great homemade hot cocoa. It's been a good reminder for me to remember blessings instead of dread things that could become a curse. I started out the week worried and stressed out, but now I'm mostly at peace (minus the sleep that I'm missing as I write this :) ).

The other, more important thing, that I've been trying to learn is just to spend time with God every moment. It's something I did well in my first year of school, but things pile up to distract a person so I'm trying to relearn it again. Over the break, I realized how distant I'd really grown from my Father. A reflection from my little prayer journal right before Christmas: "As I grow older, it seems I realize more and more my wretched state. Or maybe I am growing more wretched." I wonder if this life is meant to be a striving for perfection, or a growing understanding of who God is, and who we are in comparison. Is that the same thing? I'm not really sure. All this to say, if it is the latter (growing in understanding of God by knowing him), I need to get back to that place where I yearn for his companionship moment by moment.
Ps. 27:4 -- One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

On duty....

Well, school officially starts tomorrow (finally). I've just been running around making up errands for myself so I could pretend I had something to do. I did apply to graduate so that's now something I no longer need to worry about. Other than that, I just ran around campus and hung out with some friends. Tomorrow the real craziness begins.

Anyway, life as an RA is a little rough. The job itself isn't that hard, but what gets hard is when you're faced with a choice. It's really easy to let little violations slip, and that's my temptation. I'm not a huge fan of confrontation unless it's a personal offense, so trying to write people up for being too loud on a floor I don't live on is a little hard for me. However, for the good of the building, I shouldn't let those little things slip... It's just too easy to be lazy. I'm trying really hard not to be, though.

At this moment, I'm really wishing it were midnight so I could do my last round of the building and go to bed, but as it is, I'm stuck here rambling on my computer. At least I don't have class til 10. K, I'm shutting up now and I'm going to try to find something useful to do. Maybe I'll write a blog that has a point :).

Silence

There's a story behind this poem, but I'm not going to tell it now.

Deadened winter
Silent solitude
Sun rays dancing off ice crystals
Cold blue sky
Red clay peeking out
Amidst white patches of snow

Silence, silence
Why won't you answer
Quiet, quiet
Can't you hear
This frozen fire
Yearns to burn again
Yet you have me here
And I'm waiting

A kindled flame
Flairs up towards the heavens
Creating sparkle in the sky
A Father's love
Melts away the chains
Awakening a cold, cold heart

Fire, fire
Burning bright
Father, Father
You have called
A listless child
Has been brought to life
Now dancing, singing a new song

RA Training

My week of training ended today. It was a long and rather tedious process as I've gone through it once before (albeit 3 semesters ago). I'll take that back. The talk sessions are tedious, but I did have fun creating my decorations and boards. I'll post pictures whenever my camera batteries finish charging. They won't be that exciting, but I liked them and had a lot of fun creating them:). K, that was a rabbit trail. Back to the talk sessions.

There was a new session (that I hadn't gone through in the last training I've been a part of) that was extremely difficult for me to sit quietly through. I won't go into a whole lot of detail about what was discussed, but it was a hard hard hard reminder of where the U.S. (and the rest of the world) is headed. As God is pushed farther out, new things that are called an abomination in His Word are sticking their foot in the door and "programming" people to think life like this is completely normal. I'm not going to lie, but I felt a little woozy afterward.

So, pray for me please. This world keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Hello to the blogging community :)

Well, it seems that blogging has caught back up to me. Or that I have caught back up to blogging. Not really sure which of us was behind, but in whatever case, we're going to try to keep in step a little better now.

For anybody who doesn't know me that may stumble across this blog, I'm a university student finishing my last semester of school in CowTown, USA, studying mathematics, and working as an R.A (resident assistant). Sounds crazy, yes, but I know of quite a few others who have lived to tell the tale.

You may or may not be wondering about the name of my blog. Piracy is quite the thing these days between Pirates of the Caribbean and downloading music illegally. However, (and this is probably completely unoriginal) I wanted to make it known that my life is lived in pursuit of an actual Treasure. Not money or fame or _____ (you fill in the blank), but the greatest Treasure there ever has been, that is, Jesus Christ. As any follower of His knows, it is difficult to use language to accurately sum up what he means to the world, but He has bridged and continues to "bridge the gap" between us and His Father who has the power to condemn us if we in our depravity refuse to cross the bridge or welcome us as His children as He opens our eyes to see His radiance and we come to Him. So, in essence, I am a treasure hunter, but that's where the similarities between myself and a pirate stop because I don't pillage and plunder.

So, this is who I am, and I'll try my best to maintain this blog while I'm going through my (hopefully) last semester and try my best to keep my sanity :).
God bless!