The Campus That Never Sleeps

Right to left: Katy, Me, Taylor, Allison, Ashley, Misha, and Allison.

So.. I LOVE the girls on my hall! I guess you could call them hallmates? floormates? Oh well, these girls are awesome. Apparently living in the biggest room on the floor has its perks.. big hangout sesh all the time! After really clicking with a few of the girls we all decided to catch dinner at the JC (Johnson Center) and go out for the night together. We decided to go to Allison's boyfriend, Bryan's, frat party at their new frat house. So going into this I thought, "I'm in college, I have to at least check out the party scene" blah blah blah. I wanted to be able to be a person at a party who didn't necessarily drink but still have a great time and meet some new people! Travis always told us about "being a light" at parties and that's what I wanted to try to be, it's what I thought I was almost "called" to do somewhat; so therefore, I tried it out. Anyways, we get ready and go out. Now at Mason, there are things called shuttles. But not the school shuttles you may be thinking of. No. They are frat guys who shuttle girls back and forth from campus to their frat party, D.D's. So basically, if you want any shuttle to a party you need a connection or number of the shuttlers for that night so ensure your ride, which isn't easy. Basically, you walk outside of our dorm building (Harrison) and you see a flood of desperate girls (and some guys, but let's be forreal, they don't get many rides because guys prefer to take the freshman girls to their parties before they take freshman guys) who wait at this chained gate, like a heard of sheep, in hopes of catching a ride with any shuttle that drives up. The concept sketched me out a little, I mean getting all done-up, standing out at the end of a street waiting for every and any guy in a car to pick you up and take you somewhere is a little..interesting. Long story short, Bryan picked us up and took us there. After being at the party for awhile I realized some stuff. 1. It was easier than I thought it would be to say no thanks if someone (or everyone) asks you if you need a drink. 2. To be blunt, it's not as fun as it looks when everyone but you is drunk, everything's fun for someone if they are drunk and around others who are but if you're just watching it all, that's exactly what you're doing, watching, for hours. Which actually is kind of entertaining as times :) 3. I'm glad I went. 4. But I now realize that I probably won't be a regular on the party scene, but I wouldn't oppose to going out once and awhile! 5. I felt really relieved at the end of the night because I really think God answered a lot of my prayers tonight, a lot of my uncertainty in upcoming decisions. In Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." In Mentorship this past semester, Bill talked specifically about this verse. He talked about how the word "give" in this verse also can be translated as "implant".  In other words, If you are worried about following God's will for your life, uncertain of what He's asking you to do, don't worry, because He will implant the desires in your heart. Basically, follow what you want to do, do what you want to do because it's what He has implanted in your heart, as long as you have delighted yourself in Him and talking to him about it. I feel like God answered my prayers by implanting the want to go out, so He could then implant the want to not make it a huge part of my life here. He reinforced my initial thoughts and it was great to just feel a confirmation, in a sense, from Him. I no longer feel the call to be that light at parties and in doing so intentionally going out every weekend, but I now feel the need to be a light when I do go out, but involve myself in other areas as well. I feel great. Thanks God, gotta love ya.