Drip, drop

So today it started to rain and continued to rain most of the late morning and early afternoon. But the interesting part happened around 2:00. I had just returned from dropping one of my sisters off at her class and had begun the tedious task of reading for one of my classes. It was only a couple minutes into reading when a huge bolt of lightning struck and caused thunder to crack. Then the power went out for a couple seconds and then came back on. (I have to admit I was a little disappointed, I love it when the power is out)

Considering how much I love rain I was very distracted by the outside. My room has two big windows that create a great view of the outside world. Needless to say, I noticed how heavy the rainfall had become. Then it got to a point where it was completely white outside because of the rain. I've only seen it rain that hard a few times in my life, and never in the U.S. The road quickly became a river and the drains couldn't keep up with all the water. Roof drains were making those loud pouring noises that drown out any other noise you hear. It was raining really, really hard.

There are a few details I would like to mention before I continue my story. The sorority house I live in is located at the bottom of a slanted street and has a poor drainage system. Our front lawn is lower that the sidewalk and looks terrible right now--meaning we have dead brown grass. We also have a small porch that has six rocking chairs (3 on each side of our front door).

OK now onto the rest of my story. The river running down the street began to drain into our front yard. Thus created a lake in front of our house. No more grass, no more sidewalk, only the tops of our bushes could be seen. It literally looked like a lake had decided to move locations and stop in front of our house. Each car that went by, yes there are people who still drive through rivers, caused waves to ripple and rush towards our house. There was even a guy on a motorcycle. A Motorcycle!! I was surprised it worked in all that water...he was practically sitting in a river! The lake increased quickly and started to come INTO the house in the front foyer area. Girls were running to the windows and I was too. I took pictures of the insanity and maybe will post them once I develop the film. It was crazy. The rocking chairs had water all the way up to the flat seat part. We have one step up to our house and the water was lapping up over the step.

People who were unlucky enough to be walking in the horrible weather had to wade through water that reached mid-calf. They also endured many splashes caused by people driving WAY too fast in the road river. I felt sorry for them because here they were already soaking wet and having to step into gross sidewalk water, and other people had to zoom by and add to their ensemble greasy road river water. :(

Right across the street from my house is the bus stop. I watched as this guy walked quickly to the shack. Then a car drove past splashing him. So he stepped up onto the seat and under the covering. Then another guy joined him. Two guys standing on top of a bench waiting for a bus and watching as car after car drove past splashing water all over the sidewalk. They started to lean forward to see when a car would come to prepare themselves. It was actually quite entertaining. Then a girl walked up and they both told her to get up onto the bench. She seemed to hesitate but got up anyway. A car drove past again splashing as it went and that seemed to prove the guy's point.

The drains started to work again after about fifteen minutes...and now we can see our ugly lawn again. But the flash flood at Florida State will never be forgotten. I just hope no one will get too sick because of all the rain. I now understand the term "flash flood." I had never seen water rise that quickly before. It is pretty fascinating. I'm just glad I didn't have any classes this afternoon!!

I was reading the summary for Book 12 of Paradise Lost, and it hit me how amazing it is that God continues to pursue us. He knew from the beginning, that when He created mankind, we would fail Him, and He would have to sacrifice His only Son for us. And no matter how hard we tried, we would never reach Him, without His Son. It also hit me how distructive pride is...satan's pride landed him and his followers in eternal hell...then he hated God so much he went after us. We who are loved eternally by Him, and are His perfect creation. We were the perfect target for satan's revenge. after thinking about this for awhile, i understood again, why in life, there is no middle ground. We are either for Him or against Him. When I sin, I crush God's heart....I let satan win, I give satan a small taste of victory against my Heavenly Father. Against my Savior, my Comforter, my Friend. how horrible.

Amazing Love, how can it be, that you my King, would die for me? Amazing Love, I know its true, and its my joy to honor You, in all I do, I honor You.

O Lord my God, When i in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made; I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art! How great Thou art!
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; That on the cross my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Pencil marks on a wall, I wasn't always this tall
You scattered some monsters from beneath my bed.
You watched my team win, and watched my team loose
Watched when my bicycle went down again.

When I was weak, unable to speak, still I could call You by name
And I said Elbow Healer, Superhero, come if you can.
You said, I Am.

Only sixteen, life is so mean
What kind of curfew is at 10 pm?
You saw my mistakes and watched my heart break
Heard when I swore I'd never love again

When I was weak, unable to speak, still I could call You by name
And I said Heartache Healer, Secret Keeper, be my best friend
You said, I Am.

You saw me wear white by pale candlelight
I said 'forever' to what lies ahead
Two kids and a dream, with kids that can scream
Too much it might seem when it is 2 am.

When I was weak, unable to speak, still I could call You by name
Oh, Shepherd, Savior, Pasture Maker, hold on to my hand.
You say, I Am.

The winds of change and circumstance
Blow in and all around us
So we find a foothold that's familiar.
And bless the moments that we feel You nearer.

When life had begun, I was woven and spun
You let the angels dance around the throne.
Who can say when, but they'll dance again
When I am free and finalaly headed home

I will be weak, unable to speak
Still I will call You by name
Creator, Maker, Life Sustainer
Comforter, Healer, My Redeemer
Lord and King, Beginning and the End
I Am. I Am.

"I AM" by: Nichole Nordeman

This is one of my favorite songs right now, it grasps for me how personal our God truly is...and that is a comfort to me. If you click her name, it will send you to her page of song clips, I highly recommend listening to this one.

well i have to say that i think i did the craziest thing i've ever done in college tonight....ok well maybe crazy is a strong word....its more like the silliest thing i've ever done in college.

here i was at 9:00 sitting in the upstairs t.v. room of my sorority house watching Everwood (which is a GREAT show) and then once that was over, getting sucked deeper into the never-ending cycle of watching useless shows...and i see these two women making s'mores. i think to myself "wow, i haven't had one of those in a while...actually that sounds kind of good right now...hmm i'll have to eat one sometime soon." well the scene on t.v. quickly left and so did the thought of eating s'mores...or so i thought. dun dun dun. little did i know that my mind was already formulating the quickest way for me to eat one of those.

next thing i know, i am having the biggest craving for s'mores in my life! by this time it's like 11:30. a crazy time of night for me to be thinking about going to the store to get the essential ingredients of a s'more! well folks, i definitely WAS thinking that crazy. First i decided that i would go to the mini-store on campus, and then realized they probably wouldn't have graham crackers...and their prices would be outragous. then i asked one of my sisters...and they suggested going to the mini-mart that was just around the corner from our sorority house. so i thought, "hey what a great idea!" well i start walking over there and get into the store...guess what they had. Marshmallows. that was it. 1 out of 3 is pretty bad...and they weren't even Kraft Jet-Puffed marshmallows, they were some unknown brand that looked a billion years old. Needless to say, I quickly left the store determined to go somewhere else and get my craving fixed.

On to plan B...Publix. well this plan did not last very long considering I quickly learned that Publix closes at 11:00...like any decent grocery store would. how were these people to know that a poor girl would crave s'mores at 12:00 at night? Plan C...Walmart. yes, i drove to walmart. now in tallahassee...the closest walmart is years away from campus...i definitely wrote about the distances stores are to campus in an earlier blog...so i won't go into that....but anyways...here i was alone in my car driving a very long distance to walmart just because i wanted s'mores.

well i got there ok. and found my ingredients, and also found out that a lot of people do their weekly, and some monthly grocery shopping at 12:15. anyways...i was standing in line waiting for the check-out lady realizing how ridiculous i was being about my craving when i hear laughter coming from behind me. keep in mind, this was very faint laughter and male laughter. but coming from only one guy. so i quickly turn and i see this guy looking at me with a very amused look...and laughing. more like chuckling. i found him quite attractive...a little on the short side, but hey whatever! i'm at walmart at 12:15 come on! anyways....i start defending myself about my three items on the belt, saying "i had a craving, i know its weird...i tried going to the store on campus....etc." you get the picture. well i look down and happen to noticed his items....broccoli, bananas, orange juice, and mixed fruit juice.

i begin to laugh, and point out that my stuff is completely unhealthy and i don't normally eat this way. he then told me that his major was Science and Nutrition, and had to keep up with his diet. i asked him if he ever had unhealthy cravings and he gave me this look like "what does that mean?" i quickly covered my semi-serious question with a joke saying he probably craved oranges...which he agreed to. so that joke died right there. i even joked around about my s'mores being my dinner...which i don't think he understood to be a joke cause he said "yeah, i remember my first year in college and i didn't eat that well..." i then told him it was a joke. clearly he didn't understand my humor. and he quickly asked me what year i was in school. then asked me why i was living on campus. he found out i was in a sorority, and then i learned that he was in Kappa Sig. so we had a Greek connection.

well by this time i was already checked out ready to go and we were having small talk as we left the store. he ended up driving right next to me on the road a little ways and i kept trying to see if he wanted to tell me something...but he never looked over. so whatever. i just thought this whole evening was hilarious. the one person i talk to in walmart happens to be a nutrition major and Greek.

to finish my story...i came home safely, and made myself two half s'mores. they were cooked to perfection. chocolate dripping from them as i bit into the s'more. mmmm. so good! i have to use part of a Frank Sinatra song to describe what my first reaction was to satisfying my craving: "Heaven. I'm in heaven. and my heart beats so that i can hardly speak. And I seem to find the happiness I seek."

If you have never seen the Original S'mores Collection, definitely take a look! They are the cutest things in the world!! I love them!