Thanksgiving Week!

As I sit here going into Thanksgiving week, I am reminded of just how much I take for granted. I find it easy to sit here and complain about the amount of work I have to do, or how expensive college is, or the various things that my school's administration does that I don't agree with. In the grand scheme of things, though, I have so very much that I should be thankful for, and essentially nothing that I have any right whatsoever to complain about.

I am thankful for the opportunity to be in college. There are days when I am sick of school and just can't wait to be done, but there are so many people who would love to be in school, and for one reason or another can't. I am grateful to God for making it possible for me to be here and for making it clear to me what I am supposed to do with my life.

I am thankful for my family. Like all families, we have disagreements over some things, but nothing that we can't work through and come out stronger on the other side. No matter what I do, I know that my family loves me. And no matter what they do, I love them, too.

I am thankful for the friends that I have in my life. Some of them live much too far away from me for my liking, but that doesn't keep them from being great friends. I have been blessed with some friends that I can talk to about absolutely anything, and I know that they will listen to me and that any advice that I get will be godly advice. And with this, God has blessed me with allowing me to be there for my friends, too.

I am thankful for the opportunities that God has given me, and the protection that He has provided. Spending this past summer in Papua New Guinea was something I figured I would never be able to do, but God made it possible and provided for me, every step of the way. Both in this, and in other areas, God has provided me with protection. I think of last Thanksgiving. My then roommate and I decided to, even though we only had a couple days off from school, drive home for Thanksgiving. So we got in his dad's car that he was using, and drove east from Texas. I got out in Virginia, and he went on to Pennsylvania, with us both getting home Thursday. Saturday night he picked me up and we headed back towards Texas - and I fell asleep while driving. God provided, though, and although there was some damage to the car, there were no other vehicles involved, and Rusty and I were both safe. God has been, and continues to be, so very good to me.

Take some time this week to thank God for the many blessings that He has given you. Maybe some are like those He has given to me, and maybe they aren't, but if you look, you will see that God has blessed you. Now, what are you going to do with those blessings? Are you going to use them to bless others, and to be a blessing to God?

I'd love to hear from you, to know what's going on in your life, and some of the things that you are thankful for. Please, feel free to email me at danielmiller@letu.edu, or to give me a call.

May God bless you, and may you see His blessings for what they are.

Another week

It has been a fairly standard week this week. Continuing to keep busy, which is what I pay the big bucks for, so I guess that's how it's supposed to be.

I'm beginning to see my labs wrapping up to their conclusion, but seeing that I still have a fair bit of work left to do. The good news is, it seems do-able, I just need to really stay on task as I finish this stuff up. I'm also just eight days away from having my big paper for a class called "In Search of Historical Jesus" due, and I still have a lot of work left to do on that.

Please be praying for me with the stresses of life and for motivation to do what needs to be done, and that I keep God and His will the first priority in my life.

As always, it would be great to hear from you, so please, send me an email!

With just a month left to go. . . .

Again it's been a very busy week, but there isn't really a whole lot to tell.

Last week I dropped the engineering part of my major; I didn't plan on using it, so decided it would be better to lighten my coarse load and stick with just the aviation. So that has lightened my load a good bit for the rest of my time at LeTourneau - still very busy, but now it actually seems like it might somehow be manageable. I also ended up adding an Applied Science minor, but all that involved was 45 seconds worth of paperwork, as the work for it is already done.

This week has been, and will continue to be, very busy. I'm beginning to feel the pressure from due dates for projects, and would really appreciate your prayers.

Please also be praying for the missionaries where I worked in Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea. Some of the locals are having conflicts with the security company hired by the missionaries. Sunday night, local time, someone went out to the SIL aviation facility (where I worked) and shot and killed one of the guards on duty. Pray for a peaceable agreement to be reached, as the culture is very much a culture of revenge.

Please, feel free to write to me and let me know how you are doing, and how I can be praying for you!

October's mostly gone? Really?

As hard as it is to believe that October is mostly gone, I am so ready for this semester to be done with.

Fall break was good, and somewhat restful, but not nearly as productive as it should have been. Basically, it was an average break.

The rest of the week was busy, but went alright. This week I'm already exhausted, even though it's only Monday afternoon. In addition to the usual work, I have to prepare for my part of a group persuasive speech on Friday, and I need to get some serious work done on a paper comparing and contrasting Jesus with the Jewish expectations of Messiah.

Sorry this is short, but wanted to give an update. Please be praying for the strength and energy to finish out this semester.

Fall Break!

I am so grateful for a change in pace known as fall break, and for some awesome friends to spend it with.

The week was busy, with several tests and a couple of lab midterms, but overall it went pretty well. I got everything that I needed to done, and have been enjoying the first half of fall break. Friday night I drove Alden and Rebekah Daniels (a couple that started at LeTourneau a year after I did, and got married this past summer) to Alden's family's house, and spent the night there with his family. Then Saturday the three of us returned to campus.

This morning I went to church, which was good, and then came out with a bunch of others to Dr. Olson's house. Dr. Olson and Mr. Olson are such encouragements, and provide a great place for us to go on Sunday afternoons. With not having school tomorrow or Tuesday, it's been great to just have a couple of days to not worry about getting a whole lot of homework done, and just relax. Tomorrow and Tuesday I'll spend some time on homework and projects, but this break from those things has been really refreshing.

I would love to hear from you and find out what's going on in your life.

What an amazing weekend!

This has been quite a weekend. Friday I got to go to Little Rock, and Saturday morning we went to Thunder Over the Rock - the Little Rock Air Force Base air show - and it was amazing. Never before had I watched a jet fly backwards or hover, or seen 400 people jump out of an airplane within just a minute or two. Then we drove back to Longview, getting back around 11:30 Saturday night.

Sunday I got to go to Dr. O's, and as usual, that was a lot of fun. I came back and got to work a Hawk Nelson concert. Definitely the highlight of the concert, though, was when I went in while John Reuben was singing, and saw a lady that had to be pushing 80 years old, standing up in front of her wheelchair, with one hand on her oxygen bottle, dancing to John Reuben's music. That completely made my day.

Today was an odd sort of blessing. I woke up this morning and it was warm, and sunny outside - I got back from breakfast and it clouded over, and a little bit later started having an awesome thunderstorm with torrential rain. It hasn't rained here in weeks, so the rain we've been getting today has been great, and I absolutely love listening to the thunder, and watching the lightning. God is so good.

If you are going through a rough spot in your week, try to visualize the lady at the concert, having a great time at this concert attended largely by young teenagers, and hopefully that will put a smile on your face.

So I've fallen rather behind in posting to my blog. . . .

Well, last time I posted, I couldn't believe it was already September 4, and now here it is October 4.

The past month has been good. I have gotten into the rhythm of my classes, and although a couple of them are taking a lot of work, that's okay - if I wasn't working hard, I wouldn't be getting my money's worth out of being at LeTourneau.

I am amazed by the fact that midterms are next week. The semester is going by really fast, but that's okay - in some ways, I am ready for the semester to be over, so I can maybe have a better schedule and start working - we shall see.

I am enjoying living in the apartments, but getting to spend time with my old floor. I spent a couple of Saturdays doing work on re-siding and painting a house in the Longview area. This coming weekend I get to go to the Little Rock Air Force Base air show with a group from my old floor, so that should be really good. Then I will come back on Saturday, and finish up my homework for the weekend, so that I can work at a Hawk Nelson concert on Sunday - I'm looking forward to that, too.

This past weekend I was in Dallas from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. My mom is in town for my grandfather's shoulder replacement which was last Wednesday, so I went up to see my mom and my grandparents. It was a really good trip, and it was great to see all of them again. Praise the Lord, my grandfather is doing amazingly well for having just had a shoulder replaced less than a week ago. Please be praying for continued speedy healing there, though.

I'd love to hear how you're doing and what's going on in your life! You can email me at danielmiller@letu.edu.