The changes changed!

Who woulda thunk it huh? I have a few stories to tell this time. First, I'll wrap up the stuff I left hanging last post...
I went to the camp reunion at LW up in northern Indiana with some interesting driving conditions, found some good times with old friends, playing in the snow and playing Rock Band (I am not good at the drums). Then Mark said he wanted to talk to a few people and he pulled aside Dom and I and we went down into a large cold room and he just laid it out as matter-of-factly as possible that Dom and Hannah were gonna be directors at LW and I was a director at LH! Then we started wondering about my potential co-director and we realized that Brittany was up for the job and so after all the confusion over the semester about who would be my co-director was wrapped up with the original plan and it's a very good feeling to know what's going down. I've got the curriculum saved on my computer and I'm starting to look through it so I can eventually come up with a plan for Bible studies and all that but for now it's JTerm.
Things are going well on the wing: it was sad to see Taylor and Reno go, but having more time is really way fun because I can hang out and do stuff and I think I must be more personable when I'm not stressed because I feel like friendships are improving already. Josiah's the roomie now and it's fun to watch him meet all the freshies and reconnect with old friends, all the while he and I are hiding coasters or Magnum Bar sticks amongst one another's stuff. It might get out of hand, but it's JTerm and things should get out of hand. Like DC pranks? Maybe...
Vance finally tells us things about Ireland. Sort of. Apparently we can leave whenever we're done with this class and my parents my be taking us to the airport since Vance still hasn't bought the tickets (I mean seriously?) We get to meet with Michelle, CJ, and Sarah who were there last semester and they will tell us all about, so that's exciting.

There's the refresher of events and resolution to changes as it goes. Here's something ridiculous and altogether strange and random.



The night before I went to the camp reunion and moved into school I had one of the most vivid dreams of my life. It started off like any normal dream withh all the trippy stuff going on, but somehow the plot wound down to me realizing that someone thought it would be a funny prank to book a hotel room in my name to get me in trouble. I went to the hotel to straighten things out only to find that it was in fact a nation with Draconian religious laws who were very strict. This is where the dream got weird and very real. When I told the guy that I hadn't booked the room he goes, "So you lied to us?"
And I reply, "Well no, because it was someone else told you I needed a room, but I didn't lie."
He says, "But it was untrue that you were staying here and that is an affront to God who is Truth and therefore you are guilty of blasphemy and are condemned to death."
I took the news well and naturally tried to defend myself but seemingly resigned myself to giving in to their law... I guess I wasn't feeling like a trouble maker. I thought things were vivid before like I was watching a hi-def movie, but now I was actually acting in it and I could feel things. The noose around my neck was rough and cold and the hangman told me I could have a few moments to make my peace with God. I asked how long I had and he smiled and told me he'd surprise me which was the scariest thing I'd ever heard. At this point I think I was actually awake but fully convinced I was on the gallows minutes from my departure from this world. I talked with God about my life, my failures, and my thankfulness for him. Finally I said, "Take me, I am yours" and suddenly (in real life) my heart rate shot up with tons of adrenaline and something made a loud noise and I was sure, I mean 100% certain I was dead. Then there I was in my bed sweating with my heart beating like I had just run five miles.

I had had vivid dreams under the influence of the painkillers I had for my surgeries and they seemed incredibly real but paled in comparison to this. I thought about it for a while and recognized that God speaks to us in our dreams and I wondered if He was preparing me for my actual death. I mean, when I made my peace with God in my dream is was sincere and for real and I really felt comfortable with the idea of dying.
As I drove up north that next day and hit patches of black ice at 70mph while a semi jack-knifed in front of me, it seemed like I was right. But obviously I didn't die that day (and as you read earlier, got a sweet job for the future) but I realized that contemplating death so seriously was actually pretty good for me. Granted it was a dream that started off like any normal nonsensical dream, but it definitely turned into something different that was an education that I never could have gotten reading about, or even witnessing first hand.
Death is usually shunned in society as something morbid and strange to talk about but it's something we're all gonna go through, talk about the elephant in the room, y'know? Most stories like this end up with someone finding a new perspective on life and living better and all that, but when I had my time to talk with God, I felt like things were good and all in order and that He and I were just bringing all that to the present. When I say "I made my peace with God" I really mean that I just took time to acknowledge that it had been made through Christ and that I was merely taking a few minutes to take comfort in that. It was great.