Thursday night I drove down to Kentucky to visit my friend Brian. He lives in a parsonage out in the boonies of Verona (south of Florence), and he works full-time as a youth minister at SouthFork Christian Church. We went out to eat at a small country diner before V.B.S., where I got to hang out with all the wonderful people in the youth group: Billy, Austin, Kevin, Nikki, Cassidy, Alexandra, Sammy, and (my personal favorite) Sonja. Brian and I were exhausted Thursday night, so we hit the sack once everyone left the church. On Friday we hung out at the parsonage and drove to Happy Hills Christian Camp to pick up some Jr. High kids; we ate out at Dairy Queen with the kids, then when we dropped them off at their homes, we ate at one of Brian's favorite restaurants, a Mexican place with amazing enchiladas. Feeling worn out, Brian asked me to teach his class Friday evening, so I did; I did not "feel" the vibe flowing from me into those whom I was teaching, perhaps because my thoughts (in all honesty) were elsewhere. Today I got to hang out with a wonderful girl named Sonja; we went out to eat at Dairy Queen, went swimming in her pool, and sat outside on the swing and admired the beautiful countryside. After V.B.S., a bunch of us played a game with an inflatable ball, but Billy took a knife and swung at it as a joke (it deflated quite rapidly).

The whole "Mid-East" crisis is all over the news. From what I gather, Israel has gotten fed up with Hezbollah (a terrorist group) and has decided to pretty much annihilate them. The problem is, Hezbollah is subtly interwoven with the Lebanon government, one of Israel's enemies. Lebanon is considering joining sides with Israel, and Syria and Iran (though quiet right now) are bristling for a fight, being allies with Lebanon. If Lebanon goes to war with Israel, and if Syria and Iran take sides, then America (Israel's allies) will be expected to join in as well. Some people keep saying, "World War III?" but I don't really think about that. What kind of unnerves me is all the Christians saying, "Jesus is coming back! Jesus is coming back!" without realizing that this is nothing new. I'm sure Christians thought that when the Great War and World War II broke out, Jesus was certainly coming. Didn't exactly happen. I'm really not feeling in the mood for eschatology (I'm pretty tired), but I think that this (even though it has the possibility to be big) is not going to draw God into coming back (maybe this is because I am leaning towards post-millenialism at the current moment in time?).

I'll tell you what worries me, though. Kim Jong the Second (I know I spelled his name wrong). He's a deranged, schizophrenic madman who just wants to slaughter people with nuclear weapons. I can see him praying to his gods for Israel to go to war so that he can launch his missiles without the slightest murmur in his conscience. That's just me, though (why hasn't someone assassinated him yet???).

I'm rambling because I'm tired, and I still have to write my lesson for tomorrow. 'Night.