Hullo!
Wow I really haven't posted on here in a while. District 186 went on Spring Break from last Friday through the end of this week. I've thoroughly enjoyed the time to rest so far. We went to Meredosia yesterday to be with Linds' family for Easter. Ashwin and Armando came with us and we had a great time. We ate way too much food, but it was all so delicious, it was hard to stop. Favorite quote of the day came from Ashwin: "Man, why can't you get this food in restaurants?" Needless to say, the food from Nana and co. was amazing and the company was great.
All in all, yesterday was an amazing way to remember Jesus. The morning was filled with worship, music, prayer, and some well spoken truths about how Jesus hates funerals. The afternoon was filled with food and family, and the evening was a time where Linds and I could finally go through the 5,000 papers we had stacked in random places throughout our apartment and then spend some time resting.
I have been trying to get some stuff done around the apartment. I've been challenged recently in my life regarding this. I think it has mostly had to do with the degree to which I love (like, really, selflessly put another person before myself). I'm learning, quite frankly, that I'm not very good at it. Specifically, as a newly married man, I'm learning about what it means to love my wife and function within this wonderful relationship. One thing that many people told me but that I suppose could not hit home until I experienced it, was how selfless a person in a marriage needs to be if they want it to work.
Before I entered into this relationship, I took it for granted that I could pretty much do my own thing. If I wanted to go out with a friend and stay up 'till one in the morning, it wasn't a big deal. If I wanted to drop all my stuff in the middle of my room and leave it there for 2 months(and yes, I did this for a long time), it didn't matter. No one else had to walk over it or spend less money because I spent more going out or sacrifice anything because of the choices I made.
Now everything is different. Since Linds and I desire a Christ-centered committment, we're both experiencing how different life is when it's lived in a marriage. It's amazing and the most beautiful relationship I've ever experienced and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But it's also the most work I've ever had to put into anything. Well, really I'm being shown that I haven't really put that much work into it. So I'm trying to change that.
In an effort to be a good husband today (and a halfway responsible car owner) I went out to my truck. My idea of productivity is to get things taken care of that are on my mind. As I was throwing out the garbage and putting some mail out, the truck came to my mind, so I decided to clean it out.
Context: Recently there have been two(ok there are definitely more I'm sure...) insignificant yet consuming things on my mind:
1) my lost The Myriad CD entitled "You can't trust a ladder". This, my friends is one of the best CD's I've ever heard. The melodies, guitar parts, layering, the lead singer's amazing voice, etc has left me wanting to listen to this CD all the time. This wouldn't be a big deal except I bought it 2 1/2 years ago after hearing them at a Cool Hand Luke Concert and still want to listen to it all the time. Sadly I had misplaced it and it has been lost for around 2 months now. Every time I've opened my CD case, I've frantically searched one more time for this cd.
2.) The hole in my truck under the passenger side door. It's nothing new. My truck is an '89 Toyota pickup. I'm well aware that it's bound to rust. However, it has been on my mind recently because a week or two ago I noticed that not so small pieces of my rusted truck's underside were strewn on the ground below the truck. Me, being the paranoid individual that i can be, immediately drew the conclusion that one of the others living in our apartment complex had kicked it while drunk. This could've been an at least possible option except it would've meant our neighbors were drunk and interested in the demise of my truck's underside quite often as rust pieces were consistently falling off at an alarming rate. The flaw in this line of thinking was that our neighbors are awesome and have done nothing in any way to keep us from having a most enjoyable experience at our apartment.
So I went out to my truck and I stared at the hole before cleaning out the cab. Immediately, a bird flies out of the hole. A second one closely behind it flies out as well. Rust pieces are on the ground under my car where the birds flew out and I feel like a moron. So after realizing that I'm a really mean and paranoid neighbor and that more serious work would need to occur on my vehicle, I began to get to the task of cleaning out the cab. This means mostly that I have to reach under the seat(which extends all the way across the cab) and pull all the stuff that I throw under there.
What I found:
- 5,000,000 batteries that are all leaking battery acid onto my hands(ok really like 20)
-1 crumpled and destroyed map of Illinois
-1 frisbee
-5,000,000 pens (no, really)
-various gum wrappers, church bulletins, receipts, etc.
-three license plates (...three?)
-5 golf balls
-2 FM transmitters
-2 windshield wiper blades
-more papers
-2 CD cases containing three CD's, one of which was my Myriad CD!!!! Woo HOO!!
Needless to say my day has been productive after cleaning my beast of a machine out. I hope to patch up the hole. If anyone knows some good material for this, I would appreciate any suggestions. There are several places on my vehicle that could use it to slow the wear and tear of the vehicle (which I recognize is still inevitable).
love you guys
-dave
