Freedom! Or, What Am I Doing Here?

It's done! This semester is finally over! And what's better, I didn't fail anything! A year ago, the preceding wouldn't be a sentence worth finishing with an exclamation, but that's where I am now. To be honest, I got mediocre grades, but I passed everything, so I'm happy for now. I'm still going to have to kick it up a couple of notches in order to maintain 1) my scholarship, and 2) my sense of dignity. But from here on out, I have no need (nor desire) to take more than 13 hours (give or take) ever again! It won't get me out faster, and it's only going to add pain to my life, so I'm not going to do it. Here's hoping for a good finish (by finish, I clearly mean 2.5 years).

I haven't rested up from the semester quite yet, but I still have approximately four weeks to do just that, so I'm not feeling too bad just yet.

I heard a really good sermon yesterday. I haven't felt that in a while, but yesterday was really good. Pastor Chuck likes n-point sermons, and he usually makes those points alliterative. Some may say that it's a pre-canned sermon-in-a-book type thing, but I don't think so. For one, he's so personal and down-to-earth, and his sermons don't feel forced. For two, I really think he structures his sermons that way so they stick in the brain easier. I could be wrong, but until proven otherwise, I'm going to believe that his sermons are sincere, if not a little bit catchy.

Anyway, like I said, I really liked what I heard yesterday. Yesterday fit the formula with n = 3, and the letter with which to alliterate (word?) was "A":

1)Affirm that nothing is more important than seeking Christ
2)Acknowledge God is the giver of all good things
3)Act on what we know to be true

Ok, so there was a lot in between those three points, these were the focal points of the sermon. I think I especially needed to hear (1) (again!), because lately, I've definitely been seeking stuff that isn't Jesus. I have girls on the brain, as well as school and work. Well, that's basically all of my life at the moment, but the point is that I haven't been looking for Jesus in my everyday life. Again. There's not much else to say here, I just wanted to point that out.

The rest of the message was also very applicable to where I am right now, but that first point is just what stuck with me the most. I also really appreciated how he didn't end the service by praying that God give us the ability to recognize these things in our lives, but rather made it something we each had to determine to think on our own. While that's harder than praying that God make it available for me, I know that's how life goes sometimes, so I liked that he didn't try to take the easy way with that one.

Needless to say, I'm a bit jaded in my life right now, so I know that just by typing, "I Marcus, will determine my self to (1), (2) and (3) for the year of 2009," that I won't actually be doing what I need to be doing. However, for the sake of getting it out of my chest, I am going to do my best over the next year to seek after Christ more. Here's hoping I remember this tomorrow...

"Where there is pain, let there be grace. Where there is suffering, bring serenity."