silver lining

today has altogether not been good.

i fell asleep at my computer last night working on a paper. when i awoke, my screen was black.
my computer has been acting strangely for the last week or two. it doesn't appear to be a hard drive thing, but more an electrical thing. sometimes the screen will just shut itself off and take the rest of the computer back with it, sometimes the battery reader will jump from 45% full to 0%. last night, i assume, the battery just kicked the bucket. sleepy and defeated, i crawled into bed with my paper not done and plugged in the computer, hoping for the best.

i woke up this morning as my class was starting--hollaback if you know what oversleeping for class again feels like--and my computer still would not awake. no way this paper was getting done.

i make it to class an hour late, only to discover that older versions of indesign i'd been working with were incompatible with those at school. yippee. at least i got some paperwork taken care of during that time. also talked to my prof for whom the paper was due and explained about my computer. she was understanding but firm. i figured okay.

straight from class i head out to the western suburbs to run some errands that i had planned and couldn't change. i jumped on a train and pulled out a copy of mere Christianity, which i had checked out of wesley's library a week or so ago by chance. (it has been a good call, by the way). a couple pages in, the fellow behind me popped over my shoulder and started to ask me questions with a bit lip and concerned look on his face. this entire interchange was probably the brightest spot in my day.
it was like every hypothetical scenario i've ever been given about a non-Christian seeking God fell into my lap. he wanted to know about Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. He wanted to know about Passover and the sacrifice. he wanted to know about the teachings of Jesus and if we have to do anything more than accept Him to gain Eternal Life. we touched on Communion, Grace, the Holy Spirit, repentance, free will, prophecy, Islam. it was amazing. i ended up missing my stop to ride with him as he got off the train, and left with his contact information. be praying for him, he looked totally on the brink of something big. it was so cool. his name is sam.

so i ran my errand, but missed my opportunity to go by a "we close so early in the day" apple store. the good news, and the entire reason i can post right now, is that my roommate had a spare ibook (my computer) battery on her. she suggested it as a solution, i jumped at the idea. she handed it over, i popped it on. i pushed the power button and heard my little lappy whir to life. all i need now is to get to a mac store and tell them what's what.

three statements to cap off: God is amazing. i have lots of work to do. music (jack's mannequin) has a way of lifting me.