Have a prayer....

Right now I'm listening to Rodrigo's "Concierto de Arunjuez", and it's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. It's honestly making me want to cry. But of course I'm not going to...I'm sitting in the front foyer of the Manwaring Student Center. If I weren't, I might just break down in to tears, it's so beautiful and full of emotion. I know...I'm kidding.

...kind of. :p

Am I a sap? I kind of feel like such a romantic sometimes. Then again...I think I am a romantic. In Mrs. Pierce's 10 grade English class we took the Romantic vs. Classical test thingy to see which one you were, and I was most definitely a romantic. 

Anyway...you should really listen to this song. It's amazing. 

Today is Tuesday. This means that tomorrow I have a music quiz in Humanities, two assignments due for Music, my test for Calculus opens, and I have 2 hours of work, 5 1-hour classes and a 1-hour group rehearsal for Men's Choir. That's kind of a lot. But I know that there are probably a lot of people out there that have even more on their plate for tomorrow, so this is for you. Those of you that are about to collapse under your load of work, I'm praying for you. :)

On www.englishdaily626.com it says that to "have a prayer" means "to have a realistic chance of something happening; to be able to do something." Example: "Eric doesn't have a prayer of passing the math exam today." Then it gives the etymology. It says "When something is very difficult, you might 'pray' for assistance. If something 'has a prayer', it might succeed if it gets a little bit of assistance from above. But if it 'doesn't have a prayer', not even divine intervention will help." 

So...in all of this craziness, just know that you really do have a prayer. Ask for that "little bit of assistance from above," and everything will turn out okay. :) Prayer really is the key to life. Especially when things get rough. Well...that and mint oreo's. ;)

Now, this doesn't mean that we only need to pray when life gets hard. Prayer shouldn't just be something that we turn to only in times of desperation. It should be an integral part of our life. We should pray when life is good as well as when it's bad. Even when life just seems kind of meh and nothing much is going on, Heavenly Father still wants to hear from us. 

Anyway...I'm feeling kinda preachy. Probably because I am preachy. This wasn't supposed to be a sunday school lesson...but I guess it kind of turned out that way. Anyway, this is for all of my awesome college friends, my awesome high school friends, and my amazing siblings, parents and other family members that might be going through some rough times. I love you, and I'm praying for you. :)

Have a nice day! :)

-Joey

(P.S. This is kind of random...but I guess that's kind of why it belongs on this blog. The song embedded below is one of my favorite songs ever! Enjoy.)

Life is fragile. Handle with prayer.

So...Saturday was an interesting day for me. Not good, not bad...just, thought provoking. Oh, and scary. That too. I know, I know. Me, scared? Absolutely. I think you would have been too. But that's beside the point. What is the point? Um, I'm alive. That's the point. And more than that, I am grateful to be alive. Very grateful. I think it's all too often that we take life for granted. Well, this experience helped me see how fragile life really is (see title). So, if you gain anything from reading this post, I hope you learn that life is a gift, given to us by a loving Heavenly Father. So be grateful, eh?


So, here's what happened. This will only be like, the 27th time I will have told this story in the past two days. Oh well. Word gets around fast. My cousin from Idaho Falls emailed me just yesterday wondering if I was okay. And...I guess he's a little closer to me on the grapevine than it would seem. Idaho Falls is pretty close when you've got family there. Same with Germany. Or California. 


Um, I'm rambling now. I'm just gonna tell you the story now. Ready? 


Last Saturday I went to work. Just like any other Saturday, it was pretty slow. I had been there for about an hour, give or take. Ryan was taking the trash out, and I was hungry, so I went to make myself a sandwich. I had just started when a man in a hoodie with a bandana over his mouth and nose came in and walked straight behind the counter toward me. He was holding a knife, and told me to give him all of our money. I instantly went to the register to open it, and I forgot to put in my number before I typed in my password, so it didn't work. He raised the knife, and said "open it!" I told him I was opening it, and I typed in my number and my password. It opened, and he began to take the money. Ryan came in right then from taking out the garbage, and the man told us to get in the back and lay down. We did so, and Ryan was confused as to what was going on. I told him "We're being robbed." He suggested that one of us sneak out the back and call 911 or our manager. That's when the door dinged letting us know the guy had left. We called 911 right then, and the nice lady asked me a bunch of questions. How tall was he? (about 5' 10") How long was the knife? (3-4 inches) What race was he? (white) What was he wearing? (a grey hoodie and a bandana over his mouth and nose. He might have been wearing jeans, and I don't know what kind of shoes he was wearing) Was there anyone with him? (no, he was alone) Which direction did he go when he left? (I don't know, I was laying down in the back)
 When she ran out of questions, she told me that she wanted to keep me on the phone until a police officer got there. That's when a manager from another subway called asking if we were having any trouble. I told him yes, and he said he'd call my manager for me, and come down to our store. I told him thanks. That's when the police got there, and the nice lady let me go.
 The police asked me all of the same questions and more. Each probably about 4 or 5 times. Then they had us write all of our personal information down on a police report with details about our experience and sign it. Our manager got there, and showed them the tapes, then our manager's manager's manager got there, and burned a disc of the tapes. They couldn't get any finger prints, because I guess he was wearing gloves. And come to find out, it was a blue hoodie, not a grey one. Uber manager told us we could make ourselves a free sandwich, and go home for the night (I get held up with a knife, and I get a free sandwich. Yay). Thankfully, someone from a Provo Subway came in to take over. I don't think I would have been able to close that night after what had happened. I was so shaken up. 
 On my way home, after dropping Ryan off at his apartment, I said a prayer of gratitude. For the fact that I was alive, that I hadn't been hurt, and that everything went so smoothly. I mean, we got robbed, so that's lamesauce, but as far as having a knife pulled on me, I came out fairly unscathed. I am grateful today to be alive. The title of this post was a quote that I saw at Wilson's house Friday night. This experience was a testament to its truthfulness. Life is fragile. Handle with prayer.


So, there's the story. I'm alive. Traumatized for life, maybe, but alive. 


I'm actually doing quite well. And honestly...I kind of want to just forget the whole thing. I had trouble getting to sleep Saturday night, because I would keep thinking about what happened, and then my heart would be going a million miles an hour again...which just isn't very helpful when you're trying to sleep. 


Anyway, I found a scripture that night that gave me comfort. It's D&C 122:9. It says, 

"Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever."

So there you go. I guess I must have more things I need to do in this life, eh? 


Life is fragile. Handle with prayer.


Have a nice day! (hope it was better than mine...:p )


-Moscas