I have been thinking about faith quite a bit lately. So I wrote a haiku that I intended on being light, but it turned out quite heavy. Anyway...

Weighted is knowledge,
that moves the mind from comfort.
Faith brings joy and content.

Where does it come from?
from Elohim, residing
in my tattered heart.

Unwanted belief
Permiates my mind and soul
denial ousted.

Flowing blood rush in.
Dwell within my crimson stone,
in my calloused heart

Transform my weak mind.
Mind, function for the father,
he who matters most.

It's not so good, but what is on my mind nonetheless.

BTW-- Joel, I liked your story about calling Lee, Tess. Ha...

BTW2-- I don't care if BGSU is having a game on my b-day... I'm still going to the Reuben concert for my b-day:)

Not a whole lot has been going on since I last posted. Let's see if I can sum some of it up. I've been inspired to learn about performance art (and maybe how to create my own).

And: I went to an honors discussion entitled "How is the University Spending Your Money?" aka "What is the Purpose of a University?"

I have been saddened by the pie chart that shows how much money is allocated to "intercollegate sports." The majority of a student's general fee (that costs me a whole month's factory pay), goes to the "team". Athletics get $7,898,893 just from our general fee. Divide that by the 400-500 athletes and you still get a big number. Where as the honors student is only allocated $60 per student. Geez... And we don't have any right to complain.

It's not that I don't love our sports teams. Go Falcons!! (my pal Jayme is a CC runner) But what makes football the most deserving of our monies? Because I did not know what "First Down Falcons... Rawwww" meant until this year; does that mean that I am not meeting University standards and should thus pay into the "game day" bank? (ontological assumption: purpose of a university should be academically oriented)? Sure we had "Game Day" here, but the panel couldn't give us a statistic that said a good team = lots of money for academics. Actually they said that a bad team = just as much money as a good team.

I told/asked the panel (which consisted of the provost, Krebs, the guy who figures the bills (Dalton- I think), and Josh (the USG pres), in a moment of bold fury, if you invest in the football team, you'll get "game day," if you invest in academics you'll get a "Harvard." What does the administration care about?

The response I got, "Harvard has a football team."

Ha! Are they serious!!!

Then Dr. Moore (the honors director) pointed out that Harvard's football team is funded a lot less than ours:)

Then I got a little bolder and asked, "What should be the University's gem- the stadium? Or the Library?"

The provost backed down on that one.

Not that I think that there's a dichotomy--It's just that some things "should be" more important than others.

Then another student asked why the lights that shine on the library at night, are no longer working. The lady that runs the library said that skaters ran over them all and they broke and that the library couldn't afford to fix them.

(And the U. just put in stadium lights that cost thousands of dollars--wow). :cry:

Dr. Browne comforted the weeping IMPACTers at the sound of "we don't care if the library dies as long as we can still see the stadium from I75" by advising us against being too idealistic and telling us that we might have stirred something.

I still hate politics:)

-Fuming Boo

A song to describe how I am feeling right now...

Beautiful day, wonderful feeling,
this reason to sing, psalms
meaning songs singing praises
all day long. Joy fills the weak,
joy makes us strong. Filled till we
burst, songs of praise to the God
of the Universe.

Despite our selfish selves, despite
all loss of hope, despite our lack
of faith, despite our stony hearts,
despite the waning moon, despite
the ebbing tide of how we think
this world should be.

Praise God from whom all
blessings flow, praise Him
all creatures here below, praise Him
above ye heavenly host, praise
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!!!!!!!!!!!

-Five Iron-

Blog is Below. [image]HollyBoo_102730049 0.jpg[/image]

Okay Roo, I will sucumb to the pressure to write on this thing again. It's not that I haven't wanted to blog; it's just been one of those weeks where there's nothing good to blog about.

I haven't been in around a whole lot either, which might be some sort of an excuse for not writing. I had a great time at Punderson last weekend and then at home for the beginning of the week. Those of you praying for my Mom, add this to your praise list: her MRI results came back and her head is just fine (no tumors- which is what they thought might have been causing her vertigo spells). She's still waiting on results from some other tests, but right now she's doing great.

I went to Borders this weekend and I've decided that if I were to ever be locked in a store and not be able to get out, that would be the store I would want to be locked in. I used to think about things like that as a kid (i don't know why). Like if there was some disaster and I was the only person left on the world, where would I live? I have now chosen Borders as my "disaster abode." (It used to be Chuck E. Cheese, but then I got smart and decided on Walmart because Walmart had toys and food and all the stuff I'd need to survive). But yeah, Borders is way cool with all the books, and I could live on what the cafe has to offer, and they have tons of music.

Anyway, I got the new Sarah McLachlan CD there and my sister gave me a copy of John Mayer's new CD so I am set musically for the next week or so.

But there's bigger news in my music world:

John Reuben's new website is up and running (johnreuben.com) and he has two songs from his new album on the site!!! He also has a new music video called "Move" (it looks like a sequel to Doin)!!!

Oh and the new Harry Potter trailer is out!!! Tess, the leaky caldron said that this is a picture of Lupin from the trailer.

Okay, well I'm lonely so I am going to go watch a movie with Christy (What's Eating Gilbert Grape is in the pile, so I have to go vote for it!).

I'm outie:) Rollin with the homies... do do da doot.

boo [image]HollyBoo_850432398 .jpg[/image]

Tess and I just had some much needed hangout time watching a nice teen flick. Our minds profited little from watching it; although, watching our favorite scenes from our favorite girly movies was quite fun. Ahh:)

Today was a fun day because I got to spend some good time with God, with my guitar, with Roo, watching movies, and finishing a square (roo's scarf). One of my least favorite classes was canceled. Shakespeare at 8 am was unusually wonderful. And we had Brit Lit outside and even though we were talking about Freud and his essay on demoniacal possession, class was awesome. Not even talk of demons could bring my spirit down from the cloud it was on today. Only one thing missing from this day... I'll bet you all can guess who:)

As my cup overflows with happiness, I say goodnight,

boo

I am reading a book by John of the Cross for IMPACT (our Great Books discussion), and am finding it very interesting how he discusses the soul. He talks about seeking a life of perfection and how this journey requires three steps. The soul goes through these steps in what John calls the, "Dark Night of the Soul."

1. "The soul willingly detaches itself from all sensual desires, for such desires impede the progress of the soul on its journey."

2. "Once the soul has passed through this night, it finds itself in the night of faith, where it must give up its knowledge and understanding in order to embrace God's love, knowledge, and understanding."

3. "Once the soul has given up both sensual and rational desires, God begins his active work of grace as the soul gives itself up to him. "

Ahhh... I cannot wait to talk to IMPACTers about this book. It is so awesome that Dr. Browne inadvertantly picked this book. The book has a reputation of being seeker friendly and John of the Cross is noted for his rationality; thus, Dr. Browne probably thought him a good pick. But once he and other IMPACTers hear John's conclusions, they might not think him so rational. Or, God will do a mighty work. I hope for the latter.

"For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?" Romans 8:24, "Faith is the substance of all things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," Hebrews 11:1. Woo hoo, I love the "Faith Clause." I love the way we can rationalize God to the point of faith. We CANNOT gain the full understanding and knowledge of God without giving up our worldly rationality first. We Christians might be a bunch of irrational nuts, but we have the knowledge that matters. Anything other knowledge we have or gain is just for kicks. We could be ignorant of everything that is intellectual in this world, and our minds would still be honored in heaven. They would be honored because they would contain the only knowledge that matters, the knowledge of God. Awesome:)

Well that's just what I've been thinking about lately...

Later peeps:)

boo

It is the wierdest phenomonon that when you have little to do, you usually don't get that little bit done. But when you have a lot to do, you usually get much more done. Crazy. I haven't gotten a whole lot done this weekend, but I feel great. Probably because I've been spending time with people that I love.

To recap the weekend:

Friday--Matrix Reloaded with Eds:), a stupid scary movie at Jer's, and a cool documentary Jer made about stupid people's opinions on the war (if you could call them opinions considering the people had no reasons for their conclusions--don't get me started, don't even get me started).

Saturday-- Slept in and then worked on the IMPACT publication, the "Rara Avis." At night the corn maze was canceled-- so that was a bit of a bummer. We went bowling instead and that was very fun. Then we went to Jlo's apt. and watched Sleepy Hollow. If I never have to see that movie again, it'd be okay with me. I don't like the look of severed heads too much. And then I chose to be good and go to bed even though I really didn't want to.

Sunday-- Church (Pastor Malanga is the coolest and you should "think about that"), Godfrey's (gettin sick of it, but it still tasted good i guess), a walk with Eds (very nice-- especially the swings), baking (with C-woo all day... I missed my roommate so we spent a lot of time talking), talked to my Mom, and now I'm bloggin and getting ready for Bible Study.

So there's the "Weekend Update." Sorry if its uninteresting. I will try to think of something intelligable to write about in the future. I haven't had any time to stop and think, or else you would have to listen to my babblings about my thoughts.

I'm out,

A fan of Brian Fellows--boo