Day 153-156: Even when the Buckeyes lose . . .

God saves the day :-)

It's sort of late right now but I'll say I spent my time well with a friend from out of town. We saw the most terrible game Ohio State has played since about 1999 together surrounded by our Chi Alpha buds.

My friend and I talked a bit after the game and prayed too. All the while I was thinking, "God is so much more."

This might make no sense to anyone outside of Ohio but football could be considered a religion around these parts so balance between the game and what some people (including myself at times) make it can be lost.

While heading to school this morning I had my iPod going when I felt that nudge to talk to someone. This is always appreciated because I believe that if God didn't nudge me I would be a pod person totally lost in whatever I was listening to whether it's music or a Ravi Zacharias sermon Jam :-)

I felt like I should talk to a guy that had jumped on board the bus next to me. A few minutes later I'm getting his info so that I can find a church for him to go to since he's new in Columbus and doesn't know hardly anyone.

God told me to love people and sometimes that can be hard. God told me to be bold and sometimes I get cold.

I think that greatest thing God told me today and a way I can't perfectly verbalize is that He's there yet again for me with a good friend to boot and a mission that is far more important than a glass football.

With God. I'm always on a winning team.

Amen and goodnight.

P.S. PRAISE GOD!!!

Day 143-152: What a difference 152 days make

So today I decided that I would start writing stories again. Maybe it was my old chum from Dubai or maybe I'm just not wasting my time with other things but the short of it is that for the moment I thought it would be a good thing if I started sharing stories again at least a couple of times a week. I think one of the last stories was around Day 70 or something so it's been a little bit. I hope you enjoy and are encouraged!

Today I woke up bright and early for prayer and when I got across campus (which takes about 20 or so minutes) I was wet and made aware of the fact that the prayer house doesn't even open until Monday . . . tear.

After deciding that going home was out of the question I decided that I would have some good God time.

I walked into the Info Tech. building while listening to some some sermon jams which you can check out by clicking the Sermon Jams link @ Go-365. I think it was Greg Laurie - Trust. After milling around for a bit I saw a guy and felt like maybe I should talk to him. I didn't. A few seconds later someone sat close to the guy I didn't talk to and for some reason he seemed like someone "safer" to talk to. Confident I walked over, sat down, and pulled out my Bible. He left almost immediately. I jammed for a few seconds more and looked to my left. Here goes nothing.

"Hey, my name's Erik and I was just wondering if I could ask you a question. What's the first thing you think about when you hear the name Jesus?"

That was all it took to get to talking and eventually the guy gave me his contact info and said he might come out for the Chi Alpha National Championship Bash on Monday! He's new in town and I probably never would have run into him had I not realized there was no prayer this morning. Funny how things work out eh?

Sorry that I still haven't gone back to the picture posting like the first month but maybe next time that might work out.

God bless kids and continue to GO! Who knows what could happen!?

Laters, esm

P.S. While trying to organize my life a tad bit better I got ahold of a kid I popped a question at a couple of months ago and now that same kid is coming to the XA OSU Bash on Monday!!! How cool is that!?!?!?

Just goes to show you that even though people can get lost in the shuffle sometimes it's worth a shot to try to reconnect if you can get past yourself.