Texas Trip Part 2

San Antonio was beautiful, as always. My cousin Kelsey took me out with some of her 16-year-old friends in her brand new 2-door bright red Honda Accord. Yeah, bad combination. New, 16 yr. old driver in a new, fast, sporty car. Let's just say it helped my prayer life out a good bit!

Then I stayed with my good friend Valerie for a few days. She has a two and a half year old, Gabriella, and a 1 week old, Angelina. They were just precious. Gabriella was so full of personality. The minute I stepped in the door, she ran up to me and wanted me to hold her and was giving me hugs and kisses. It was just sweet. Then it was three days of feeding babies, changing diapers, reading books, watching cartoons, cleaning up messes, putting down for naps, waking up from naps, the whole deal. I suppose I thought it was so much fun because I could leave any time I wanted! I knew my life wasn't going to stay like that for long. But I did really enjoy it.

Then there's Jason. Valerie's brother. We dated 4 years ago, and it's been that long since I've seen him, because he's been in Iraq. I knew it was going to be slightly awkward seeing him again. It wasn't too bad the first couple days. We hung out as friends and caught up on a lot of stuff. Then we had "the talk." uuggghhhh. I hate having to be serious! Anyways, I know you don't really care about all the juicy details, so basically, he told me he still liked me a lot and he just felt a special connection between us, and wanted to try dating again... blah, blah, blah.

Well, believe it or not, I've actually grown up a bit in the past four years, and don't just swoon and lose all sense when somebody starts talking to me this way. So, I had to be a little heart-breaker once again. (I'm getting to be pretty good at that, and I don't like it at all!)

"Jason, there's a lot of things I really like about you. You'll make a great dad one day; I know you'll always treat your girl very well; you're hard-working... But there's one thing that is missing. One thing that's very important to me. I need a guy who is a strong spiritual leader. I need HIM to be the one that wakes up Sunday morning, and says "c'mon; we're going to church." I need HIM to be the one to initiate prayer and Bible reading. Jason, yes, you're a Christian, and that's wonderful, but it doesn't seem to mean very much to you right now. You've got a lot of bitterness built up in your life towards God, and you need to deal with that. You've got to let it go, and start wanting to be a better Christian. Yes, I care about you, but I cannot let this one slide. It's too important."

Whew. Okay, so it wasn't quite that thought out or clear when I actually said it, but that's the idea I was trying to communicate. Not an easy thing to do at all, but it needed to be done.

My cousin must have good connections at the airlines, because I flew from San Antonio back to Houston, and I was the only stand-by person they allowed on the flight. They turned everyone else away, because it was booked. Then, my flight from Houston back to Columbia, the same thing happened. Well, this time, they weren't even going to let me on the flight. But Brian was with me, and he went and talked to somebody, and next thing ya' know, I'm on the flight. Praise the Lord.

So that's a briefing of my trip. There was so much more that happened, but I don't have the time, so I'll spare you all the other details!