Blessed and puppets

Lately I've just really felt blessed to be living my life. I know I already said that I got to see my niece being baptized, but it was more than that. I got to see a lot of my family that weekend and it just made me feel really good about having a family that is so close. There was a special moment during the baptism when I was holding my two year old nephew trying to keep him quiet and I got him to pray with me and he was so good and quiet while I recited the Lord's Prayer into his ear. I'm uncle Mark now. Then this weekend my mom and my aunt and uncle and cousin came down to hear the choir concert. I didn't get to see them for long, but it was just good to see the faces I don't see enough anymore.

Then last night was our fourth Sunday Night Worship and it was the first time I didn't feel like I was going to throw up the entire time. Ok, so that's probably a little dramatic, but last night was definitely the first time I've truly felt comfortable leading worship. I actually got to experience worship myself while leading which is the place I really wanted to make sure I could get to eventually. One of my friends shared her testimony for the message and it was very powerful and honest. I'm learning so much more and more this year about how true Christianity is a plurality of oneness in which we find ourselves truly ourselves amidst the loving, blessed community. Too often I think I pull away from people and create meaningless relationships, but more and more I'm realizing how blessed I am to have those relationships that I do have whether they're nieces and nephews or good college friends or old friends I haven't spoken to in far too long or even that person I don't know that well but was able to have a great conversation with.

In Intro to Philosophy we talked about how the ancient Greek's idea of the ultimate aim of life was happiness which could be translated better as "blessedness". How could I not feel blessed when I have great friends and Halloween puppets? Life doesn't get better.

Much needed

This past weekend was fall break. I can't believe I'm already saying that it has passed, but times moves on and I still haven't really gotten any homework done. I was able to go home and see my niece for the first time since she was born three months ago. I was just never able to work it out to get home to see her until now which makes me the bad uncle. But I was able to go this weekend to her baptism, so I like to think that I was just waiting to see her at her best. She was such a good baby. Not that some babies are "bad", but some other babies are definitely more fussy and spit-up-y. Kids are great once they're past the spit-up stage. Before that, they're pretty much tiny time bombs waiting to explode. But, not this baby. She must have gotten those superior Rupp genes.

I came back to campus Monday morning mostly because my bed at home is really hard and I can't sleep there anymore. If nothing else, I will say that Bluffton definitely has the most comfortable mattresses I've ever slept on. The plan was to come back and get some homework done while I had some extra time to do it. So much for that. A couple of my friends and my roommate all stayed around through break, so there were too many distractions for me to actually get anything done. Now it's the last day of break and I'm scrambling to get everything done. Oh well. In the end it was a good time to relax and sometimes you just have to say "oh well" and move on.

I have come to the realization, however, that we're already halfway through the semester which means a few things:
1) I am not nearly ready enough for my Senior Recital next semester which is coming fast.
2) It's getting closer to the day I get to see my friends who are off halfway around the world this semester. I miss them and this next semester will be the last time we'll get to see each other for significant amounts of time.
3) All those semester long projects that I've been putting off should probably start getting done.

So much to do, so little fall break left.

Homecoming and so much more

This weekend was homecoming here on campus. This was the first year I've actually been around for this weekend. Usually I am at home for my high school homecoming or I was in Pittsburgh last year first semester. So, I finally got to experience some good Bluffton homecoming fun. Despite the fact that the football team lost pretty badly, it was a good time going out to the game and having almost the entire bleachers full of fans and students. The dance that night was a pretty good time too. They had it in a different location this year which we were all really skeptical of at first, but it turned out to work really well. I really like that dances here at Bluffton are fun for the simple fact that no one takes them very seriously (but then again, maybe that's just my perception of things). People just go to have fun. It's not about dressing up and taking "dates" and going to dinner beforehand. It's just a fun thing to do on Saturday night.

Besides it being homecoming this weekend was probably one of the best I've spent here at Bluffton. There's a good chance that it is all because I didn't really have any homework to worry about so I didn't have anything looming over my head the whole time. Friday night a couple guys on my floor and I hung out and played video games for hours. Then Saturday after the football game we decided to go on a bike ride. We were going along taking turns deciding which direction to go and we ended up down some country roads surrounded by fields. I told them that we should all go to a Corn Maze sometime this fall, and then about three miles later, bam!, a corn maze. We spent probably a good hour and a half wandering around the maze. It would have only taken us under an hour, but we were determined to get all the stamps hidden throughout the maze. We came back and had some pizza before the dance. The perfect end to a great weekend.

And now this week is Spiritual Life Week where they have a bunch of different activities to explore faith and spirituality and just have some fun. This evening was the Fall Festival where different organizations have booths with games and there was a raffle. I didn't really want any of the prizes but I just wanted to win something, so for every prize I could win I found someone and told them that if I won I would give it to them. Lo and behold I won the grand prize and got to give away a bicycle to one of my friends who wanted one. Part of me really wanted to go back on my offer because I instantly started to think about all the things I could do with an extra bike. But then I realized what I was doing and how I was just filling my life with stuff that I don't need. I rode the bike around once and told my friend that it was all his. I feel really good about this. I want to be a giver more often. I want to stop trying to fill my own life with stuff and start allowing others to fill my life with their presence. Now I have one more person to go on bike rides with.

Here's to a life filled with presence.


"And the crowds asked him (John), 'What then should we do?' In reply he said to them, 'Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do lifewise.' " Luke 3:10-11