Alright, alright.

So I got some stories and I be laying them down right here on this page. ah. i am so not gangster.

I know this looks insanely long, but READ it. Some parts are funny/entertaining, I hope. :)

anyway.

so my friend jason at the tutor lab is in a wheelchair ( i do not define him by that disability...i hardly even remember that he has one but it's essential to the story) and yesterday morning we were all sitting around with nothing to do. he started clanking the front metal part of his chair into the tables and saying in a very serious, meditative tone, "Sanctuary. Sanctuary." so, all day today when things got really quiet I would take a pen or some other object and hit under the table and make that really funny bell tone. It's not that great of a story, I understand, but it has really made my day and it made me laugh a lot--So much yesterday that I almost blew hot chocolate out my nose. It was really just snot but that makes the story sound so much better.

On that note, I have been extremely gross to be around the past week or so given the illness that took over my unwilling body. Ah...dramatic, I know, but that's how it felt. Anyway, all weekend I was with these really cool, trendy high school girls and I kept having to blow my nose because I couldn't talk or breathe otherwise and I know that it grossed them the crap out. They were probably all thinking, "Dang. This frumpy, frizzy college girl needs to get her gross, sick butt home and take some fashion lessons." they even somewhat insisted on straightening my hair Sunday. I felt like Mia from the Princess Diaries or one of those awfully dressed people from "What Not to Wear" or something like that. They were all crowding around me and saying things like, "Yeah...you look totally different now," and "Yeah, you should really wear those glasses today. Girl, we're gonna' get you some digits." I'm not even joking. I think I developed a slight complex...:( Maybe I'm just not aware of my self-presentation. Maybe I just don't care.

Back to the tutoring lounge.

So this girl needed help with math the other day and I sit down beside her, let out a big yawn, and ask her what wants to go over. When I look to my side she's staring down at her homework assignment. So, I naturally look down and realize that I have yawn spattered all over her papers. OMG. I didn't know what to say. So I go, "Did I do that?" Of course, I totally knew that I had at that point, but what else am I supposed to say? She looks up and solemnly nods her head. OMG. I'm so emabarrassed at this point. I take my sleeve and hurredly wipe off her papers. "It'll dry....I am sooooo sorry. That's really gross." then I jump into an explanation of fractions and hope that she gets so caught up in numbers that she forgets all about it. Ah. The horror.



Tangent:

Here are some quotes from the literature that was given to me for the weekend. I personally feel as if they're theologically skewed in very serious ways. So I'm listing them here and if anyone has thoughts on them, please share.

"Satan won't tempt you with something that you know to be clearly wrong, because he knows the you won't give in to it."

False. I think most Christians know when they're committing sin.

"When you are lukewarm, it affects no only your life, but also all the lives around you. Suppose you have two or three friends who are lost, and they see your lukewarm lifestyle this year. You may prevent them from ever entering the kingdom of heaven and coming to know Jesus Christ as Savior. Well, perhaps there are two or three next year, and two or three the next. The result after years and years of living a mediocre Christian life will be that you have caused many to fall away from Jesus Christ. But if you had lived a cold Christian life and didn't even profess to be something that you were not, only you would suffer the consequences."

I understand the importance of Christians leading lives that follow the standards that Christ gives, but I think this quote is placing WAY too much importance on the individual. God does the calling, not our actions. Plus, I've never seen anyone come to Christ based off of human actions. True salvation comes through hearing the Word/Truth. Right? Thoughts?
I mean, I know Jesus served people physically a lot of the time before he helped them spiritually (although the two are obviously connnected...you get my point) but I think this is a different matter, entirely.

"You are always either drawing others toward God or causing them to fall away."

This just seems so weird to me.

And because I have feminist tendencies and get fired up really easily:

"By the way, did you know that there is only one way a young lady can dress to draw others to God? She must dress to accent her eyes and expression. Any other way, such as tight tops, or short shorts does nothing but push others away from God. She becomes a stumbling block."

Don't get me wrong; I love modesty and understand why Christian women should practice that, but the implications of this passage are limitless. It sounds like the author might acutally support modern-day abayas. Really, was this comment necessary? And I feel like all of these excerpts place way too much blame/guilt on the person acting out these things. What about the choice of the other person? does that makes sense? Am I wrong? I don't know. It just confused/angered me. I talked to a good friend about it and he's actually having the leader of the weekend write the publisher about some of the issues. Kind of cool.