Saturday, June 9, 2001
3:05 PM, on the computer

(continued from yesterday's entry)

Well, needless to say my trip to Dallas was eventful. I was prepared to go with a fresh fire from what's best called as my "Rebecca St James incident", or the "RSJ Incident" for short. I was going to Dallas to see Christ For the Nations, the seminary college I'm going to, and because my friends Brian and Jennifer were going. They both had attended college there, and Jennifer was getting ordained that Tuesday night. I decided to tag along, and I'm glad I did.

We left the Saturday after the RSJ Incedent, and after a rather pleasant trip there (aside from the horrid roads in Arkansas, no offense to those of you that live there) we arrived in Dallas, and we passed through Rockwall, the city where the church I would be doing my internship is in. We went to the hotel and checked in, then went out to eat. We did that a lot in Dallas, to my enjoyment. We ate at some great restaurants. Anyway that night we ate at place called Cheddar's, which was kinda like a Applebee's but they had some AWESOME desserts. Get this: a chef pours cookie batter into a small skillet, and then fries a chocolate chip cookie. He then puts whip cream, nuts, and ice cream on top of it and serves it while it's still gooey. The result? The cookie monster! It ROCKED!! Sorry about that, I was ranting. Anywho we checked out some local stores and went back to the hotel.

The following morning (Sunday) we visited Rockwall Community Church, the church I mentioned earler, of whom the pastor was a former teacher of Brian and Jennfer's, and the youth pastor is a friend of ours as well. Eugene rocks, I met him at a youth conference a year ago and he was the one that invited me to do my internships at RCC. We went there looking for him and didn't find him, so we went and checked out Solomon's Porch, a hangout place that is run by the church. Eugene knew Brian and Jennifer were coming, but he had no idea I was coming and he was thrilled when he saw me. I'll have to finish this later, I have to go to work.

Friday, June 15, 2001
2:09 PM, on the computer

It seems like I'm never gonna get done with this thing, yeesh. So back to the trip, I visited Solomon's Porch and decided I'm going to be hanging out there a lot. Afterwards we went to church and I met my future pastor there, Brad Howard. Great guy, I'm looking forward to learning under him. After church the three of us went with Eugene's family to his favorite restaurant, Luigi's.... which was run by a guy named Mario. Imagine that.

And y'know... I completely can't remember what we did for the rest of the day. I think we went and hung out at a mall, oh wait I remember now, we ate at a steak house called the Trail Duster. It's sort of a honky-tonk themed place with a twist. They have a strictly enforced "no tie policy", and if you come in wearing a tie they'll ask you to remove it, and if you don't they'll cut it off and staple it to the wall along with a business card. I thought it was cute, that and the two story slide that took you right into the middle of the dance floor. You'd better believe that I tried it!

Monday morning we went to check out the campus at CFNI, and lemme tell you... it kinda surprised me. It looked a lot different that I had expected for a Bible College, it was set up like a Apartment complex with an auditorium, library, and gym. The men's dorm is a reformed Hilton, and the women stay in the afformentioned apartments. We went to a worship service (the first period class) and it blew me away. I loved it, but I still hadn't quite decided that I wanted to go there yet.

We checked out the campus a little more, and we left for downtown Dallas. We picked up David, a friend of Brian and Jennifer's along the way, and then decided to check out some shopping at a huge 4 story mall. It was cool, but I think I spent around $200 dollars on DVDs... a big mistake later on. The four of us went back to the hotel and watched some old silent horror films (that guy is obsessed with old silent films) and then went to go check a movie. We saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and I looooooved it. We ate at the Olive Garden, took David back home and then we headed back ourselves for the night.

Tuesday was a big day, and I can't even remember what we did in the morning. Oh yeah, we went and scouted out some Radio Shacks for me to potentially transfer to. We also went shopping at a Barnes and Noble and got some coffee afterwards. We were supposed to meet a guy for lunch, but he had to back out at the last minute and reschedule for the next morning. We then went to Chili's after that and returned to the hoten and got dressed. Well, the time came for the ordination service, and it was a um... little weird. I've decided to cut and paste part of an e-mail I sent to Abby, and I hope she doesn't mind me using it... if she does, tough. :þ

"Dear Abby (*snickers*),

...Anyway, I had a great time in Dallas, and I've decided that I WILL be going to Christ For the Nations in the Fall. And yes Abby... it has something to do with a girl *L*

Okay, so I'm sitting there in the CFNI auditorium, minding my own business... reading a book of all things... and I'm waiting for the ordination ceremony to start. The praise band is rehearsing on stage and a guest singer steps on the stage to practice. "Hmm, she's a little pretty" I thought, and then whacked myself on the head and reminded myself that I need to focus on God for a change. She started singing and I had to admit, she's talented.

So the ordination ceremony starts, and after the opening message is given the director asks for the tithe. He then introduces a young student from Poland to sing the offeratory hymn. The same girl steps on stage and gives her testimony (in pretty good English) of how doctors told her that she had some cysts in her throat and said she couldn't sing again. She had faith in Jesus, and told everyone that He had healed her and the doctors confirmed it, then started singing the absolutely most beautiful version of Amazing Grace I had ever heard. She knocked the audience off of it's feet. When she finished, I didn't notice it but I was already on my feet before everyone else and I was clapping my brains out.

So I sat down again, and waited for the ceremonies to start again. To be honest Abby, I hadn't thought about the girl since she had gotten off the stage, and I was reminding myself that I needed to focus on God and not the brunette three rows down when the singer came and sat right next to me.

'Okay big whoop, the seat next to me is empty and the house is packed..... okay, there's a few seats left...... okay, there's a LOT of seats left. This girl's sitting next to me... ok, focus on God, focus on God, He'll bless me with a wife later...'

She looked at me and smiled. I could almost hear in my head: 'Well, are you going to tell her?'

'Um, you did a really good job up there' She beamed and touched my back and said with a thick Polish accent 'aw... thank you!'

'Whew, there... I said it...' I thought. Back to the ceremonies. My conscience had other ideas:

'You know, she IS pretty...'

'Shutup.'

'And you know she's got a Godly character.'

'I said shutup.'

'Won't you just talk to her?'

'No, if He wants it He's gonna have to make her...'

'Are you Bible student?' She said...

The first thing I thought was 'Okay, I don't need another crush....'

I answered 'uh, no... but I'm starting in the fall'

'Really??' She lit up.

I found myself thinking: 'My God, she's got beautiful eyes... you really did a good job' Then the speaker said 'let us stand for the reading of the scripture.' So we stood, and I noticed she didn't have a Bible so I extended mine to where she could see it. I don't know which felt better Abby, the feeling of worshipping God with her, or suddenly noticing that she was looking at my eyes instead of the Bible.... my heart jumped, and I had never felt like that before. To avoid her seeing me blush, I looked down at the floor and almost choked on my tongue. She had a stuffed duck on her keychain.

'um.... that's a nice keychain...'

'Oh you like it? It's my Duckie!'

I sighed 'Lord, could you have NOT made this any more obvious? Man, she's got pretty eyes..... HEY!! Cut that out, focus on God first...'

The speaker proceeded with the message, and I realized I had forgotten my notebook. Instinctively I remembered my phone and reached for it. She exclaimed 'Cool!' and leaned over curiously and rested her head near my shoulder to get a closer look.

'Lord, she smells good too... oh Abby's gonna think I'm nuts.'

She seems like a child, so curious, and her eyes just danced as I wrote down the notes in my palm phone. I set the phone down during a slow moment, and she didn't take any time to snatch it up out of my lap and start playing with it. She loved it, and between the looks she gave me and my phone I could have spent all night telling her about it.

Well we ended up talking for a lil bit more, and I found out her name is Renata Wolkiewicz, and she's from Poland. She's at CFNI through the music department, and afterwards she's transferring to a local college to study Jazz. Girl, if you'd have heard Reni's voice you'd have understood why. She's a first semester student, and hinted at the fact that she wanted me to keep in touch with her. She thought it was really cool that I worked at Radio Shack, too. Something happened that was really cute, she was so excited over playing with my phone that she got hiccups. She held her nose like I told her to, and she looked so cute as she stared at me as if saying 'so what now?'

As far as looks go, I'd say she's about 5'5, and she has black hair and tanned skin. She also has the silkiest voice I've heard, and has a REALLY thick Polish accent. I can't compare her to any celebrities because she's unlike anything I'd ever seen, but I can tell you that she has the deepest, most beautiful brown eyes that I've ever seen. They were just intense. But the most amazing part was next.

The speaker asked everyone to get up and start praying in tongues for the people getting certified, and we stood up and did so. But her standing near me just electrified me... I've never worshipped God so fiercely before... the higher her hands went, the higher mine went... she empowered me, and I had never felt closer to God at any time in my life... and then I noticed something. We were almost syncronized in our prayer languages... it was like we were one person singing praises to God, I said one thing and she repeated and vice versa, but it was a split second off (kind of like two pairs of windshield wipers... almost together but not quite). It was intense... we prayed for about twenty minutes.

After prayer she looked at me said said 'Hey, I have to go now...' And she kinda stood there like she was waiting for something. Again, my mind went off on me:

'Don't just stand there, get some info!'

'Um, hey could I have your last name so I can look you up when I arrive on campus?'

'Okay, do you want my address too so you can write me a letter?'

'Oh okay then, sorry........ say what??'

She laughed, and she helped me write down her name and address, as well as her e-mail address. She told me to write her a letter and then still stood there like she was expecting something...

'Well John, do it right....'

I extended my hand and she shook and smiled...

'Well, it was nice meeting you Renata...'

'It was very nice meeting you too John', And she left.

Abby I promise you... if I hadn't been in a crowd of 1500 people, I would have started dancing... I did start singing though, really loudly. I sang praises to the Lord thanking Him for what just happened, (thank goodness everyone else was singing...) and by that time Brian and Jennifer had left the stage and walked up to me. Jennifer walked up to me and said 'John, she's really pretty...' and all I could say was 'Thank God...'

It's weird, all the crushes I've ever had in my life have been selfish... but this one, it's actually bringing me closer to God. The more I think about Reni, the more I read my Bible and the more deeply I pray to the Lord. It feels so weird... it's like He's encouraging me to think about her more. I even sent her an e-mail before typing this, and I actually plan to *gasp* write a hand-written letter... all I know, is I can't wait to get back to CFNI...

I met some of my teachers, and I really like them, especially Maurene Friar, an Englishwoman that teaches classes on Jail ministry and other types of outreach ministries. She said she looked forward to teaching me, and wished me a safe trip home and a safe return.

I couldn't get my mind off of Reni though, and like I said... the more I thought about her the more I glorified God for her. During my trip home I didn't say much... I just read my Bible and slept, and looked at the clouds and thought of her. I can't wait to talk to her again, Abby...

I guess that's why I called on you, what do you think? Do you think I've gone nuts again? I admit, I'm still fresh from my recent loss (The RSJ Incident for those of you keeping track -- John), and you do know my current track record with women... any input for me? Well anyway enough romance stories, I need to go to bed now..."

Okay, show of hands... who reading this still thinks I'm sane, hmm?

Anywho, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. Or tried to at least... I think I called Abby that night and talked to her about what happened. I dunno...

Wednesday morning we ate lunch with the guy that we were supposed to have eaten with the day before. He used to be the Youth Administrator at CFNI, but he was so good the department became self sufficient and he had to retire early. Can you imagine that?

Well, we left for home this time, and near as I can tell... I made it home okay, do let me know if I'm wrong though... that'd be embarassing.