My mind is leaking into the keyboard

It's official.

I accepted the teaching assistantship from U of I at Urbana-Champaign. Last week I was getting tired of waiting to hear from U of M, so I started moving forward with going to UIUC out of spite :D. I emailed the Grad InterVarsity chapter to see if anyone was looking for a roommate for next fall. My biggest priority in my future was finding a good Christian community to join immediately, and I figured having a Christian roommate(s) would be a good start. The next day I heard back from a physics grad student whose roomie is graduating. He's currently a small group coordinator for their chapter (which is what I did here at Platteville for a year, now I'm back to being a sg leader), and has a fairly inexpensive two-bedroom apartment. It's less expensive than other places because his landlord doesn't advertise much, i.e. I wouldn't have found it otherwise :D. He said it's big enough to host a small group Bible study, so I'm pretty sure that I'm going to land in the middle of a good Christian community if it works out. Then there's some other little things, like its unfurnished, but he has enough furniture for the living room, so all I need is a bed, dresser, and desk, which is what I just happen to already have.

Four hours after I heard about that, the university of minnesota finally got back to me and offered me a TA there, but I didn't even think about it seriously. Maybe because I had a cold, maybe because I don't have time to second guess myself, and maybe because the stipend they offered me was $17/month less than what UIUC offered :P. Actually, it's probably because UIUC's EE grad program is considered to be one of the best in the world (comparable to MIT and Stanford) and I just needed a little extra momentum to choose the better of two very good choices.

Other ways that God has been leading me to UIUC is that next weekend there is a Tau Beta Pi conference on that campus (TBP is an engineering honors society). Since I'm a member, I can go for free and get to see the campus, possibly attend Grad IV's large group meeting, and possibly finalize housing.

Final random thought of this post: I'm not actually that gung ho to get a masters degree. While I do enjoy my major, part of me would rather be a pastor than an engineer. I'm doing this because this is where God has sent me. He gifted me in this area and has given me enough patience to get some more schooling and that's all I know. Honestly though, I feel like I'm building a resume similar to the one that Paul lists in Phillipians 3. I'm really just waiting for the day God directs me to give all this engineer stuff up for the sake of his kingdom. Maybe that'll never happen, but I'll be ready for it if it ever does.