First Semester as an "Upper Classman"

Well, it's been a while since my last updated hasn't it? Even though they now allow students to go to blogspot.com while on campus, I didn't update my blog this semester, partly because I didn't feel like I had the time, and partly because I didn't realize that we could go to blogspot.com now until about half way through the semester. =P (It was blocked last semester.)

Anyway, things have been going pretty well since the end of the summer. Obviously, I was at school for most of that time, working on the first semester of my Junior year. School was quite a bit different this semester than semesters in the past, but here, let me explain from the beginning.

This is a bouquet that I gave to Abby for Artist Series. 

To start with, I had to deal with quite a few medical problems this semester, namely, seizures. I had to deal with seizures last year, but not nearly to the same extent as this semester. This semester, I was put in a room with two Freshmen. We got a long quite well and had a lot of fun as a room, but I started having seizures quite frequently and my roommates didn't know quite how to react and it was causing them to have difficulties sleeping because they would be afraid that I would have a seizure that night and they wouldn't know what to do. I didn't realize that my having seizures was causing them problems, but evidently it was; enough that they went to Mr. Wilson, the dorm supervisor and told him about it. Mr. Wilson had a talk with me about the situation and decided that it would be best if they moved me to a new room, and had someone else come in as the APC (Assistant Prayer Captain), the leader of the room.

So, I was going to be moved in to a new room, but Mr. Wilson didn't have a room picked out yet, so in the mean time I moved in with Jeremiah, in Reveal. Mr. Wilson wanted to put me in a room with guys that would be ok with me being in their room, and having seizures and being ok with it if they had to deal with it sometimes. After almost a month, he found a room that fit the bill perfectly. It had two Public Safety members in it and they both were ok with having me in their room. So, I moved in and that's where I spent the rest of the semester.

That was my excitement with moving around rooms, I also had some other excitement with my seizures. Such as, my seizures were getting pretty bad, so we wanted to try to see if we could find a doctor that could figure out what was causing them, so we got a hold of Dr. Sorg, someone Aunt Rachael knows. He is in Atlanta, Georgia, so I made an appointment with him and drove down there to see him. He looked at me and asked me some questions and didn't really decide anything definite, but thought that there is a good chance that they are caused by some scar tissue on my brain from when I hit my head ice-skating back during the summer of 2009. Dr. Sorg then prescribed me some medicine and I headed back to BJ. I don't know if the medicine helped or not; I wasn't on it long enough to tell, because soon after I started taking it I developed a bad rash over my whole body. Some people thought that it looked like measles, others thought that it looked like hives, but I didn't have any other symptoms for anything like that, other than I had red spots all over my body, and they itched ferociously. I went to Barge to see what they had to say, and the nurse there said that it looked like a reaction to medications, and that seemed like the most likely option so I went with that. Dr. Sorg said to go off the medicine, and that we'd find some other medicine to put me on. I got off of the medicine and the rash cleared up in a couple days (along with the itching).  So, I was very thankful for that.

Well that's enough about health issues. Now, on to school and things. School went "OK." Not good, not bad, just "OK." =P Meaning that I passed all my classes, but I certainly didn't raise my GPA any. The lowest grade that I got was in Greek, but praise the Lord I still passed. As far as grades go, I've had to put quite a few things aside, telling myself that it really doesn't matter what grade I get overall. As long as I pass and do decently well, then I'll be fine. God has had to work in my heart to help me realize that, but I think that He's been doing a good job. My overall GPA for the semester was about a full point under what it normally is, but as long as I am still doing my best, then I am still honoring God. =)

I had quite a few other "firsts" this semester as well, including riding my bike to Prayer Meeting at Mount Calvary on Wednesday nights. The first time I went was because I just wanted to go, and I didn't have any classes on Thursday to study for anyway so, I went. But since I couldn't find anyone to hitch a ride with, I decided that I had to ride my bike; since my brother and cousin were both using their vehicles, I wasn't able to borrow them. Prayer Meeting went really well. I really enjoyed both the preaching and the time of prayer. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, that I've been back for every Wednesday evening Prayer Meeting since. Most of the time riding my bike, because I figure that it's good exercise, and it is the only form of transportation that I really have, without borrowing someone else's vehicle that is. And besides, it's only 4.5 miles from school to the church anyway, so it only takes about 17 minutes to get there on my bike, not that long.

There was one time that I actually got lost on my way back from Prayer Meeting while I was riding my bike. (I can't say that that was my most favorite experience.) So anyway, when I got lost I had to call Michael Ritschard and have him come and pick me up, because I knew that he had a truck, so I could put my bike in the back. It was a bit of an embarrassment to have to pick up my phone and call Michael and tell him that I was lost, and ask for him to come pick me up. But I figured that being a little embarrassed was better than wandering around through the streets of Greenville all night on my bike. Michael came and picked me up and brought me back to campus, and I was very appreciative.

Another first was that I was placed as the leader of my extension (though I knew beforehand that that was going to happen). So, that added quite a few different responsibilities and worries that I had to think about. Being the leader of Agape Bible Club isn't all that difficult, but it does require thinking and organizing. There are a lot of things that Tyler, the previous leader, took care of and handled that I never even noticed, and I'm only noticing them now because he's not doing them, and they are falling on me to do. Funny how that works. =P

So, those have been some new things for me, but they have also been a blessing. God has been using many of these things in my life to help me grow. I know that He is using Extension to help me grow and develop as a leader. To help deal with problems and different things that come up during a Bible Club. He is using my heath issues to grow me in some way, if nothing else He is using them to help draw my closer to Him, and depend on His strength and not my own. Also He is using my health and difficulties with grades to bring me back to Himself, so that I would find my fulfillment in Him alone and not in grades or anything else. And there are a couple other things that God has been teaching me as well, but I think that I'll save those for another time. =)

This is Tim, signing out