So This is Love

So this is love,  
Mmmmmm,  So this is love.  So this is what makes life divine     -"So This is Love," Cinderella

Bahahaha! No! I'm not in love! At least, not the kind of love you're probably thinking of! But this is the song I was thinking of in my quiet time last night.  That may or may not be because Cinderella came out in it's Diamond Edition today. (Of course I bought it!) But it also goes along with my thought process very well.

It's been really hard for me to think of a blogging topic the last... week and a half? Two weeks? I don't like complaining, and I was in a down stretch for that time, and didn't want to cloud the Internet with my grey thoughts.  But things have gotten really interesting the last few days! The University of Sioux Falls is hosting the South Dakota Supreme Court! According to my Government professor, this is a huge honor.  According to my art professor, she just puts up with it.  For my music instructors, they hate it with a passion.  That may or may not be because they are locked out of their offices for the judges security until 5 PM.

It's been truly fascinating to witness these cases.  Monday was the first day of court, and I, as an Event Team member, was working two of the cases as a 'Balcony Usher.'  Too bad no one sat in the balcony! The first case I saw was about a man who was making child porn.  The issues with the case were that the IP address was supposed to be private and the police should have had a warrant I believe, and the other was that the public wasn't allowed inside in the original session.  I was confused as to why this was important to have a case on it until I did my Government reading and talked to my professor today.  It's all about rights.  I am very fascinated.  No wonder Bri Turner gave up her Opera major for this!

The second case I saw was the big one.  It was a murder case.  Two convicts in the penitentiary were charged with the murder of one of the guards in a botched escape attempt.  It was SO INTERESTING!! The lawyers were really good and it was not at all boring to watch.  The defense and the plaintiff both shared very different sides of this man, the once high school freshman (first time he was in jail) and now death row, to the man who shot several people and committed rape at gun point, which is why he was in the penitentiary this last time.  Very different views on the man.  The verdict is  supposed to be reached this Thursday.  They want to do this as quickly as possible, because the other man who was involved is receiving the lethal injection later this month.  I have no idea how they are going to reach a decision on this.  The other man that is on death row is a beastly person.  He wanted the death sentence.  He made a statement that he would kill the juror if that would help.  Straight up.  He was a nasty piece of work.  My professor is a criminal justice professor, so she knows all the details of the cases.  The problem with the other man was that he was fighting for his life, unlike the man fighting to die.  They believed his case was riding on the tail of the other.  He and the lawyer team, want him tried as a separate person.  Which would possibly be better for him.  The head lawyer also claimed that they were not informed that a piece of evidence was going to be evidence.  He felt he could have been better prepared if he know this.

I'm obviously very into this.  But as I was writing up my journal, I was pondering what I thought of the death penalty.  It's never been something on my radar.  I'm pretty sure Iowa doesn't have it anymore.  But I really thought about this specific case.  My Uncle Randy is a prison guard at Oakdale in Iowa City, and I may be wrong, but I think it's one of the most dangerous ones.  I thought of that guard, that was beaten so badly that his brain was showing through his skull, and I thought of it as my Uncle Randy.  I love my uncle very much, and I was very bothered by the idea.  It then popped into my head that God still loved these two men.  He loves them very much, even though they've done such terrible things.  God loved the guard just as much.  I was floored.  I went through my thoughts, bringing forth every name I'd been thinking about and thinking how God had been with every person.  Whitney Huston was loved by God, even though she was addicted to drugs.  God was with Taylor Swift every time she ended and began a new relationship, and gave her the gift of lyrics.  God loves my friend Bethany and her family, even through their grandfather's passing.  He knows it's difficult.  God loves my roommate Sarah, even though she sometimes bothers me, as everyone does at one point.   He died for her.  He died for these men in the prisons.  He died for ever girl in my pod.  He died for my best friends.  He died for Obama.  He died for Romney.  He loves them so very much.  Have you ever thought of God loving an individual? You often hear of God's love as a universal thing that just covers all.  I've always found that hard to grasp in my heart, even though I've known it's fact.  God loves me and died for me.  But if you look at someone that everyone looks at as despicable, and know that God died for that man or woman, it's so amazing.  So this is love.  It's just so beautiful!

On a totally different line of thought, I have a few prayer requests.  I still haven't gotten another job, and it's making things a bit challenging for me.  I'm determined not to take any money from my parents this year, and I can't do that without a job that pays more often than once every 30 days.  That's a really long wait for a small pay check.  I'm hoping in the next couple of days I'll hear from Hobby Lobby.  I really want that job!! I know so much about all sorts of crafts and art, so it really would be a perfect job for me.  I'm a craft room facilitator!!! Also, I'm starting to get a sore throat, and I have my first solo performance next Monday.  I can't get sick!!!

Of course, God is good, and I know at one point (probably in a month) I will have forgotten these feelings I have now about the sickness and job search.  God's got a good plan, and I know that He loves  me enough to make sure I'm taken care of.  He loves those men on death row, so I'm pretty sure He loves me too! So THIS is LOVE!