Beginnings and Ends, Continued

The last post was a bit fragmented - I had a lot to say and a lot swirling around inside my head to sort out. It's still not quite settled, but I realized that I had a point to make that I never got to. But, rather than try to reorganize the previous post, I'm going to try again here.

There's an "old Englih proverb" (which probably has a known source that's unknown to me) that says simply this: "All good things must come to an end." I'm realizing that's the case, even for really good things like this past semester. These things come to their end no matter how much we love them and no matter how much we try to hold onto them.

There's a reason, a point, to the good things ending, though: change. Change is a vital part of being human; in fact, we do it continually. And, because we change inside, we need changes outside to reflect, foster, and modify those internal changes. God made us beings in a constant state of transformation, and one of His tools for controlling it is the circumstances of our lives. Now, how He does that varies from person to person, but it's a certainty that He will, at least for those willing to allow Him to do so.

So, my point is that apparently some new phase of His work on me needs to commence. But doing that requires that the current phase be ended, despite my desperate wish to the contrary. And perhaps I need to be out of the way for a time to allow change in someone else's life. Or there may be something else afoot on the Boss's part. But, whatever it is (and it could be more than one - those aren't XOR's), it requires that I follow His leading to get there. Not that it's either easy or what I want to do. But, last I checked, those weren't in the brochure.

Someone once asked me what "peace" meant. I puzzled for a few minutes, and couldn't think of a good explanation, so I finally said something that, although it smelled of "complacency", almost fit. It was only after a lot of thought that I realized what the difference is between the two: complacency is being comfortable with where you are; peace is being comfortable with the One moving you along. Change is happening in my life. But I know the One who's guiding this whole thing, and I'm going to trust Him with it. Or at least I'm going to try to.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)


In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
The gracious calling of our Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up and follow Thee.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.

(Verses from the hymn "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind")

Ends, Beginnings, and the Spots In Between

So, the semester is over at RPI. Tonight I finish packing, and tomorrow I head home. The switch to IT has worked out really well, and I've had quite the time. I filed the paperwork today to officially switch departments, so hopefully that'll be approved by the Powers That Be next week. Beyond that, I'm happy to say that everything's done.

At the same time, I'm sad to see the semester end. I've grown a lot in the past few months, and learned more about IT, myself, and God than I ever thought possible. I've gained some amazing friends, and done some really cool (and some really inane) stuff. It's sad to watch us all go our separate ways - phone calls and AIM aren't a good substitute for actually being with people.

On a different note (but on the same minor chord), I have a summer and fall co-op, working for Avidyne Corporation, in Lincoln, MA. They have a couple of projects they need to have done, in addition to the day-to-day IT stuff. It should be interesting - it's my first actual IT job (or at least the first one that's officially IT and that I get paid for). At the same time, I'm a little disappointed, because there was a job in Troy that I really wanted to get but didn't. There's a number of things I'd like to be involved in here, including RPI things in the Fall, but, alas, it appears God has other plans. I'm sure they'll be good ones, but until I find out what they are, my outlook is a tad bittersweet.

One thing I can vouch for is that this whole God-directed life thing is quite the adventure. If it weren't for the fact that I know that He knows what He's doing, I'd probably be a lot more unhappy right now. But, as I once said to someone once who commented on the "convenience" of having God to run the universe for you, it's almost like a contract - He's the Boss, so I do what He tells me to do, and then it's His job to make sure the details work out. Unfortunately, He doesn't generally feel it necessary to give me all the details beforehand.

So, stay tuned for the adventures of Nate in Massachusetts. And news on the various projects I have planned for my evenings. This should be a most interesting next few months.

God is good!

Free e-Books

As promised (in person - we can apparently still communicate that way at RPI), here's a link to the University of Virginia's library of free e-books:

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/

By the way, The Last of the Mohicans was written by James Fenimore Cooper.