It's a funny thing how one day can be so different from the next.
Yesterday I spent most of the day moping around about being bored and generally in a sour mood. To be honest and fair to myself, I tried to get out of it, but it was simply one of those "woke up on the wrong side of the bed" days, until the evening. Then I got a lovely gift in the mail from a friend and I went and bought my guitar. (hooray!! she's so pretty! I have yet to name her, but it'll come.)

My poor immune system has been striving to defend my body from this terrible cold that seems to have grabbed hold of me. I am not helping any by staying up as late as I have been (I simply can't get to bed before 1, even WITH nyquil!), but hopefully I will feel better tomorrow. It would be terrible to pass it to my family and all be sick just before/during Christmas.

I went to see Return of the King today. *whew* I have many many many thoughts to write about, but I want to refine them a little before posting, because I find so many allegories to my life within the movie that I want to make sure I cover the majority. Plus I figure I can give it another day or so, so as not to spoil it for simply EVERYONE. However, I very highly recommend the film. I have become an avid Tolkien fan. It is rare for me to see movies and like them nearly as much as the books, but such is the case with ROTK (and LOTR in general). There were many a thing that had to be left out for time's sake, but I think Jackson did a mostly superb job with choosing what was the most important. Lord knows I wouldn't want that task, as I should NEVER be able to decide what to keep and what to throw out.

Have you ever tried to learn a language on your own, with naught but a book to help you? It's not easy, I assure you, but it is rewarding to feel that you are grasping something foreign with no help. I am striving to put together Greek, and it is so very rewarding to be able to read a Greek New Testament and be able to pick out words here and there that I know. Am I not American to the core? I say, I shall bend over, take hold of my bootstraps and pull as hard as I can. Even if I only succeed in the bending over part, at least it is a start, no?

In other news, they have captured Saddam Hussein. Did you hear that? (Say "yes.") He has been hiding out in this tiny foxhole underground. If I were able to forget the millions of lives he's destroyed, I'd almost pity the man. Such desperation and hopelessness in his eyes in the photos. He knows his time is up. I pray that justice will be served, and that the people of Iraq will be allowed to decide what to do with him. Some use the "love your enemies" argument to claim that we should be merciful toward this evil dictator, but Christ instructed individuals to love our enemies, not the government. Rather, governments have been instituted and ordained by God to bring swift and just punishment.

Why did God ordain Saddam's government for a time? I wish I knew. But who am I to question the ways of God? He is the potter, we are the clay. He will do as He pleases and what brings Him the most glory. Those ways are mysterious to us, but they bring us a deep and abiding joy and love that sustains us.

And now I'm too tired to even attempt to make sense. Until next time...