Last Monday, August 30, 2004, was one of the longest days of my life. It was tiring, dangerous, and scary. But there was so much favor all throughout, I just know God was there with me.

Prologue:
I've been in Chicago for around a month now. But last week, I found out my dad would be in St. Louis, Missouri. Seeing as it's only 6 hours south, I took a bus down last Wednesday, and stayed with him till over the weekend. Then, on Monday morning, our hosts dropped him off at the airport, and me at the bus port so that he could fly to LA, and I could take the bus back to Chicago.

I was dropped off at the bus station at 9 am, but since my bus wasn't arriving till 11:30, I slept, with my legs and arms intertwined with my luggage to keep it from getting stolen. Not exactly the most comfortable position, but it sufficed. Eventually the bus came, and I boarded it. Unfortunately, I made a mistake, and instead of taking me to Chicago as I expected, it went to downtown St. Louis, where I had to buy a ticket and board another bus.

The bus ride was long and tiring. I eventually got to Chicago at 6:30 pm. I took a cab to my car, which I had left parked in the city. I had to refill the radiator with this antifreeze solution because the car has a silly habit of emptying itself. Unfortunately, I forgot to replace this rubber stop cap, which connects the reserve tank to the rest of the radiator. So basically, the reserve tank had the antifreeze which would keep it cool, but since it wasn't connected, the car was going to overheat.

I drove to the house I'm staying in, which is an hour and a half away from the city. Along the way, while on the interstate, the car started smoking (which is such a bad habit, and a terrible example to today's young people). I was going too fast though that I didn't notice it. And another motorist was running along beside me, and he signaled to me. I pulled over to the shoulder and sure enough smoke started coming out of the hood. So much of it was pouring out, I was afraid the car would catch fire, so I pulled my bags out. This was around 8 pm.

Basically, I had no choice but to wait for the car to cool down before I could drive again. Good thing I had my laptop, so I played games to pass the time. These cars and trucks would whiz by me in the next lane, and they were going so fast my car would rock everytime one of them passed me. I was glad it was still light, when I broke down. But it got dark so fast I had to push the car under a streetlight while I waited for it to cool.

When it finally did cool down, I drove it, but didn't go farther than half a mile before it overheated again, and I had to cool it off again. Fortunately, the family I'm staying with was eating at a restaurant at the next exit, so I only had 6 miles to go. So I maintained that pattern...drive for a bit, let it cool down for 15-20 minutes, drive a bit further, let it cool down again...lather, rinse, repeat. And I finally got to the restaurant at 9:30 pm...more than 12 hours after I had left the house in St. Louis. I ate first, then my friend accompanied me to the gas station to have my car looked at. We couldn't get it to stop overheating though. So we left it at a hotel and went home. I got home at 12 midnight. I had taken a 15 hour trip.

Epilogue: Looking back, I see how dangerous my carelesness was. I could've been hit by a car or truck since I was parked right beside this busy highway. I could've been mugged or something too. And I could've permanently damaged the engine of the car. But God is faithful, and He protected me. Today, I went back for the car, and it worked fine! Thank you, thank you, thank you, God!!! So there. The trip was a pretty tiring, scary, exhilirating, and envigorating experience. And I've learned several valuable lessons. I also got to share the Gospel to this old man in his 80's while waiting for my bus, so it was pretty fruitful too. I gotta say, this trip has changed so much in me. Oh well...love the independence.

This is another serious post. I bought the new Newsboys album. They're this Christian band that played at the World Conference in LA. These are the words to their song In Christ Alone. I played this over and over again last night, it's so beautiful.

In Christ alone,
My hope is found
He is my light,
My strength, my song

This cornerstone
This solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought
And storm

What heights of love!
What depths of peace!
When fears are stilled
When strivings cease

My comforter
My all in all
Here in the love of Christ
I stand

In Christ alone
Who took on flesh
Fullness of God
In helpess babe

This gift of love
And righteousness
Scorned by the ones
He came to save

Till on that cross
As Jesus died
The wrath of God
Was satisfied

For every sin
On Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ
I live

There in the ground
His body lay
Light of the world
By darkness slain

Then burst him forth
In glorious day
Up from the grave
He rose again

And as He stands
In victory
Sin's curse has lost
Its grip on me

For I am His
And He is mine
Bought with the precious blood
Of Christ

No guilt in life
No fear in death
This is the power of Christ
In me

From life's first cry
To final breath
Jesus commands
My destiny

No power of hell
No fear of man
Can ever pluck
Me from his hand

Till He returns
Or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ
I'll stand

I REALLY REALLY WANT...

1. A Massage: I've been sleeping in so many places that weren't designed for it like airplanes, buses, and couches, that my body is getting achey. It's a good thing I won't be riding anymore planes for a few months, and probably only one bus in the near future. But when I stay in the apartment of this one family I'm with in Chicago, I usually sleep on the couch, so it's all starting to pile up on my shoulders and neck. I never really liked massages before, but now I'm craving one.

2. My Basketball Shoes: I didn't pack them, you see. So I've been playing basketball with these running shoes. And while I still win (*ahem*), it hurts my feet so much. All the lateral foot movement and sudden stops and gos are what's killing me. The shoe obviously wasn't designed to support that kind of stress.

3. My Books: I'm running out of reading material here. I had to buy some books at the World Conference to keep me going. And to think I have a pile of books that I wanted to read just sitting back home.

4. A Magical Device that Will Keep My Skin Moisturized: I'm envisioning this to be a bathtub filled with some sort of enchanted moisturizers that you can soak in for around an hour, and your skin will stay healthy for a month. But, since I don't have that yet, I have to put lotion on twice a day because the atmosphere is just so dry. I do it right after a shower as my Mom advised, because while our skin's damp is supposed to be the best time.

5. Better Penmanship: I was reading my journal again; there's so much to go over. I couldn't understand some of the words. What a waste of a possibly great idea or statement. I was also sending some snail mail out at the post office earlier, and I could hardly read the address I wrote down. So I guessed some of the words and numbers, and I hope it goes to the right place.

You know, I don't share this much, but I have a feeling I know when this began. I think my Kinder teacher may have cursed me in this area. I was four years old at Kinder 2, which is kinda early. All throughout the year, my teacher kept telling me that my penmanship was bad, and kept pointing out my classmates' work which was so much better.

Of course, the younger you are, the age gaps make much greater differences. Like a 1 year old can stand, while a 0 year old can't even see, but a hundred years later, the 101 year old isn't any more developed than the 100 year old. So I was 4 and most of my other classmates were 5 so naturally they had nicer writing! When I turned 5 and had a party in school, the teacher was suprised to find out that I was younger than most of the others, and was only turning 5 that March (the end of the school year). So there.

One possibility is that her statements became self-fulfilling and to this day keep my writing bad. Hah! But I'll show her!!!Have you heard of that book that's titled, "You Were Wrong, Mrs. ____ (i forgot the name)"? It's written by a man who turned out to be something good, contrary to what his teacher had told him. I think I'll write a similar book, and I'll title it, "You Were Wrong, Ms. _____." (The name has been removed to protect Ms. Chili's identity.) It will be a beautiful book, proving that she was wrong about my penmanship.

It will be handwritten of course. The first chapter will be in simple writing form tracing printed words on the page. The second chapter will be in print, with all my letters within the blue-red-blue lines. And the last chapter will be in cursive, a beautiful script with all the flows and curves, nice and smooth, but not too flowery, which is girly. The actual content of the book has yet to be decided on, but the point will have been made in the format alone.

But now that I think about it, she was also a pretty good teacher. I remember she was kind and fun. I remember making chains out of strips of art paper that hung from the windows down to the floor. So it's not like she was out to get me. Besides, my writing didn't improve when I turned 5 (or 6, or 7...or 21), so she most likely had nothing to do with it whatsoever. Which is really a relief, because I didn't want mixed images of her in my mind. And at least I don't have to write that book now. It was fun to think about it though, and I'd still like better penmanship.

6. My Tiny Pillows on My Bed: They made such a big difference that I really appreciate now. They could create the perfect angle of elevation, with the necessary surface for any kind of activity. Say I was reading in bed, I'd want my back to be up and straight all the way to my head. So I'd use a big pillow for my back, and usually, the yellow, elliptical Issho-Genki pillow for my head, because it was big enough to provide the necessary support and firm enough to keep it in place. Now, say I was sleeping and my big pillow felt a little too low. I couldn't add another big pillow to the top because then it would be too high. So I use either the Rowdyruff Boys pillow or the Bubbles pillow to put on top of the big one. And of course, my preferences change per day, but those three pillows would fit any need that surfaced. Here, I just gotta make do with what's given me, which is still quite generous, but it's just difficult to adjust, when you already had a working system in place.

7. A Time Machine: I was reading my journal and I was suprised by all the things I did, that today have no impact in my life whatsoever. It was all fun, I'm sure, but I remember being tired a lot too. I'd go back in time and tell me to be more focused and to drop the unnecessary stuff. I believe if you do what God wants you to do right now, then the rest of it will take care of themselves. So I'd go back in time, and drop a whole lot of unnecessary gimiks, events, etc. And I'm sure I would've been more productive.

8. A Nice, Juicy Steak: I'm hungry eh.