Deep Thinking with a side of Puking

I have been doing a lot of deep thinking lately. This is a good thing, though sometimes not so fun. For those of you who read this for the humor, I will begin with a short story before I get to the deep thinking, less humorous stuff.

I have moved into my new place. It is pretty sweet and I like it though I haven't spent a whole lot of time there yet. My roommate, Holly, has a cat named Sushi. Sushi's tail got run over by a car and Holly's sympathetic co-workers gave her some raw ahi (which I believe qualifies as sushi) to boost her spirits. So, Holly has been serving Sushi the cat, sushi the food. This seems borderline cannabilistic. Anyway, last night after Holly fed Sushi his sushi, he got a peculiar look on his face. Yes, cats do make facial expressions. And it was too late to stop anything when I realized that the facial expression meant, "Hey new roomie, I am about to barf on your sandals. So, Sushi puked sushi onto my sandals. Sick! Sushi definitely did not make a good first impression.

Yesterday was our last day of staff development. Tom, our amazing base director, was talking about sometimes sins we constantly struggle with are rooted in deeper issues. We try to keep treating the symptoms but they never fully go away because the root of the sinful behavior is still there. His example was how in college he used to tell lots of white lies when someone asked him something he did not know. He kept trying to stop but could not. He finally realized it was a pride issue that most people would never have guessed. He is probably the most humble man I know. Once he started praying about and dealing with the pride issue, he was able to overcome the temptations to make up stuff instead of admitting when he didn't know something.

After Tom shared, he gave us time to pray and contemplate how this applies to our own lives. It was really good for me. I realized that a deep root of bitterness is causing me to respond negatively to some important people in my life. I have to let go of old grievances whether they are valid or not. I will continue to work through this but this principle is so important when trying to figure out why we struggle so much with certain sins. I encourage all of you to try to find the root of those pesky perpetual sins in your life. In general, I have been having really good times with the Lord since I have been back. Such a blessing!

Today I found out more worrisome news. I got an email about a soldier dying and it looks like he was in my brother's company. That's hard to think about. And I got another update about the girl I mentored who is doing poorly. I wish I could write what I found out but that's not fair to her. Needless to say, the latest news is pretty bad and life changing. I wish I could just steal her and lock her into a room until she is strong enough to resist these temptations that are so harmful to her. I love her so much and it is hard to hear of her stumbling. I know that God is in control but it is still hard to hear about what she's doing since some of her actions have very serious consequences. Please pray for her.

On a lighter note, the students for the Winter school have begun arriving today. The chaos is begining and it is a lot of fun. I am looking forward to getting to know these new students, especially since this is the last school I will be here for.