Bomber

About two years ago I was in New York City for a class field trip. We experienced all the normal things that tourists do. We went to the top of the Empire State Building. We walked around Central Park. And we went to a Broadway show. The night of the Broadway show is when our typical trip evolved.

As we walked out of the theater we were expecting to find the city alive with people walking from store to store, tourists taking pictures in Times Square, and New Yorkers pushing past tourists. We definitely did not expect to see camera crews, news reporters, or police tape blocking off roads.

While we were watching Mary Poppins someone tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square. Luckily a street vendor noticed something odd about the abandoned car and notified police.

If the vendor hadn't done that, I don't know what would have happened. I may be hurt, or I may not have even made it out of the tragedy alive.

From this event I realized how unexpected life can be. I also realized that there is a reason I was kept on this planet. It would have been so easy for the car bomb to go unnoticed, but for some reason it wasn't. My life as well as everyone in Times Square was spared.

A few days ago I was looking thru some top news web sites. One of the top stories on all of the sites was about an al-Qaida recruit who was on trial for attempting to bomb the subways in New York City. This story reminded me of the time I was in New York City and how unexpected life is. So I chose to use the story fulfill the Storify assignment I had to do for one of my classes.

The Little Things Add Up

Today I had to do an interview for a story that I’m writing for my Intro to Reporting class. Right now we are working on profile stories. I decided to write about a bible professor on campus that opened a safe house for women who are struggling.

She stated the process in 2009, and by this summer she is hoping that the house will be at complete occupancy.

In addition to talking about her plans for the house she told me a little about her life and the process God took her through to get where she is today.

She told me about certain things that she did during her life she never thought that would be useful again. She said that she is good at lots of things, but not great at any of them. But she said she understands now why God had her do those things. She said that everything that she was interested in she is able to apply to the House.

I really liked hearing that. A lot of times I feel like I have a lot of little talents but that I’m not amazing at anything. I learned from this interview that if God had a plan for the little things in her life then He has a plan for the little things in my life too.

The little things will all add up to something great!

I Believe You

For some reason I believe almost everything people tell me. I guess I’m just an honest people and I assume that all other people are the same way.

Well, they’re not.

Over the past few weeks I can think of numerous times people have made of stories and for some reason I just believe them.

Probably the best story is:

It was around 9pm on a weeknight. I was on the phone in an intense conversation when suddenly I hear a knock on my dorm room door. I yelled, “hold on, I’m on the phone.”  

The knocking doesn’t stop. It turns into pounding. Then I heard a panicked voice, “Crystal, Crystal open the door! It’s an emergency!”

I open the door and my friend Brit comes pushing/falling in.

She had blood dripping from the side of her head.

I screamed and practically dropped my phone.

Then she started laughing. It was just fake blood. The worst part is she and the other girls she was with filmed the entire thing, and I’m the only one, out of all the people they pranked, who screamed.

That’s probably the best story, but it certainly isn’t the only story.

I believe a lot of things.

So I’m beginning to learn that not all people can be trusted, and that every situation can and should be evaluated and tested.

A Race Against Time

Lately I’ve been feeling stressed. I just feel like I have so much to do and hardly enough time to do it.

I try to do everything at a rapid pass, but some how time just goes by even faster.

When I look at my life it doesn’t seem like I have as much work as some people have, but it does seem like whenever I need to do something fast, time moves even faster.

I really wish that I could just stop time, or I wish that I could move at an exceedingly fast pace.

But since those things will never happen, I guess I have to learn to manage my time better.

Or I could just set every single clock I own ahead of schedule, then maybe I could be right on time with everything.

HAWAII

Yesterday there was a meeting for all of the people planning on attending the May Term in Hawaii trip!

I’m so excited! Three weeks in the beautiful state of Hawaii.

What could be better?

There really aren’t any life lessons in this post, but I did find out that I have to make a new blog about my adventures in Hawaii. I’ll be sure to link that to this blog because I’m sure I will learn tons of life lessons in Hawaii.

Dorothy It's a Tornado...Where's Your Cell Phone

On Friday night, I was at my friend’s house.

I a muggy day, it sort of looked like it was going to rain, but other than that it was a beautiful day and evening, that is until…

The tornado came.

Okay, it didn’t actually come, but her mom made us go in their cellar just in case.

I’d never been in a cellar before, so that was kind of exciting. But I really I was a bit frightened.

My friend and her family kept talking about a really bad tornado that happened a couple of years ago. They said that it was a mile wide and took out almost a whole town – at least one hundred people died.

I was not ready to die.

Just in case I thought, I’d better text my brother to see if he was okay.

Problem: my phone died.

My phone never dies, so of course it would happen right when I needed it most.

Well to make the story short…

1. I didn’t die

2. I charged my phone

3. I called my brother

4. We both lived

5. There wasn’t even a tornado

Lesson: always charge you’re phone, you never know when you might need it.

Mean Girls: Chapel Edition

Last Friday was junior class chapel. Now don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed this chapel, but it reminded me of the scene in Mean Girls where all the junior girls are gathered in the gymnasium after the burn book is released. Tina Fey’s character says, “Close your eyes and raise your hand if you have ever had someone say something mean about you behind your back.”  Next she said, “Now close your eyes and raise your hand if you have ever said something mean about a friend behind her back.”

The Chaplin spoke on James 3. This chapter explains how the tongue is a powerful weapon.

After he went through James 3 he asked people to stand if anyone had ever said anything mean about them, then he ask people to stand if they had ever said something mean about someone.  He totally took this from Mean Girls.

Who knew that Mean Girls would relate to the Bible so well?

From this chapel and Mean Girls, I have learned that the tongue is a powerful weapon and can easily influence what people think. It should be guarded and everything said should be thought through.