sort of a rough weekend....

It is true. This weekend has been a little difficult for me.
Let me start from the beggining.
Since Wednesday, some friends and I had been planning to go out to my lake cabin Friday night, and come back in Saturday. However, due to lack of commitment, late friday night rolled around, and we had not left yet, and nobody wanted to go anymore. Which is fine, but as the nights continue to cool off, and the rains are coming, that lake water is going to cool off quickly. Not two weeks ago the water tempurature was 73 degrees, I would guess that today it is down to 60.
So, instead a few friends and I went to a lawn dance here on campus. I did not have too much fun, simply because I think that there is plenty of good dance music out there that is not degrading to men and women alike, going against almost everything I stand for. So I just hung out for a few minutes. Then I made a trip to the ER with a friend of mine. Dave was in the middle of the dancing group, and he got kneed in the head on accident. Right above his left eye he recieved a cut, so I took him into the ER to get stitches. After about an hour and a half there, we finally came back to campus.
Yesterday I went to my school football game, which was fun, but we were up 21-0 at the half, so I left. I drove home to pick up a few things that I had left such as tennis raquets, jackets, and my sleeping bag. On the way there, I saw one of my friends that I have known the longest, and it broke my heart to see him going back down a road that not three years ago put him into intensive care for two weeks on the verge of death. He is making poor decisions, and getting back into the party scene. He looked at me, and told me that he desires to hang-out with me, and I felt a sincerity in it that said he needed me, since I am his only friend that will not party with him, and will help to keep him accountable. I will try to hang out with him some, but I am very busy this semester at school, work, and youth group.
After that, I went over to a friends appartment, and had a hard heart to heart with one of my closest friends on campus. He told me that he no longer knows what it means to be Christian, and is having some real doubts. I know that he is looking for real answers, and not just simply youth group or church answers. I told him a bit of my story, and that Christ changed my life, and that is why I believe, I cannot emperically prove that to anyone, but I know that he did, and I felt a weight that I had been carrying for 15 years taken of my heart when I accepted Christ 5 years ago. I know that he will need to choose for himself, and that God gives all of us the right to free will, but I hope that he chooses faith.
I am looking forward to classes agian tomorrow, if only to be done with this weekend.
I am not hopeless though, don't think that. There is nothing in this world that can take my hope away from me (though I do get cynnical, and negative at times) however, the hope that I have is not in material things, nor does it have to do with anything that this world can change. My hope is in the true God, the wise God of justice who calls me daily to rise up and follow him, into the hard places, into those places that others shy away from, to give justice to the oppressed, to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, and to show compassion to all others, even if I have disagreements with them. The greatest commandment is this, love thy God and love thy neighbor. That is what I am trying to do.