I've decided just to keep this site so that I can read my subscriptions. For new posts, check out my new blog: . http://rstewart.wordpress.com. Goodbye, xanga!

Roller coasters are fun, but not when they involve my emotions. My first class of the semester was phenomenal. It's a world literature class with Dr. Pottorff (my friend Steven's dad). He really knows what he's doing, especially when it comes to making the students take ownership of the class. I'm pretty sure this will be one of my best classes ever. Then, I went to Burger King and everything blew up in my face. A lady was a real jerk to me in the drive thru, and I'm pretty sure she cheated me out of $10. After that, my drawer was $25 short. I was very, very frustrated. I'm hoping my manager will figure everything out tonight. Oh, well. I guess it was just one of those days.

I heard a song on the radio that kind of calmed me down a bit. It mentioned the phrase repeated over and over in the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Joshua: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9). The coolest thing is that I just finished reading Deuteronomy and just started Joshua, so that phrase has been etched into my mind recently. The song I heard basically said that God will always be with you. If you have your foundation in Him, He'll hold you up when life gets hard. Even if it's just because someone yelled at you in the drive thru.

What an amazing trip. Thanks to everyone who prayed for us! I saw sides of my youth group kids that I didn't know existed. They were pushed outside their comfort zones constantly. Mind you, their comfort zones are very small. Going into their first nursing home on Monday, the teens were nervous. I loved their reaction afterwards, though, when I asked what they thought. They loved it. I guess it helped that they played games with the residents the whole time. One of the teens said that he doesn't talk much at school. He only talks if he's extremely comfortable with people. Apparently, he was comfortable with our group. They are already looking forward to our trip next year, probably to Virginia to work at a camp and go white water rafting. Man, I'm already excited about that trip.

Tuesday was an intense day. We went to a Christian organization that teaches groups about Islam. We had Iraqi food, which was delicious. Then, we went to a mosque. It was very interesting and sad all at the same time. The whole religion boils down to doing more good than bad in your life with get you into paradise. No one can really know whether they will even go to paradise, unless they do one of a couple very specific things. The sad thing is that no one can ever make up for the sin one commits (Muslims do not believe in sin, by the way). No one can ever be holy enough to stand in God's presence. However, the beauty of Jesus Christ is that He bled and died for the sins of those who deserved nothing but eternal punishment. To be blunt, if my eternal state was based on my own good works, I would burn in hell forever. Praise God that I don't have to depend on my own goodness to make it to paradise, but the goodness of my perfect Savior who paid my penalty on the cross.