Thoughts From Texas

As I am writing this, I am sitting in the San Antonio airport, waiting to catch a plane back to Columbus that, unfortunately, won't leave for about two and a half more hours. Luckily, this allows me some time for reflection:

- I have had a great time in San Antonio, coming down for the weekend to attend the Christian Legal Society convention. The theme this year was "Walking the Walk: Following Christ in Law and Life", and featured several great speakers. It was nice to hear from Alan Sears again, since I was very impressed and inspired by his addresses at the Blackstone. We also heard from Jhan Moskowitz, from the organization Jews for Jesus, and Alan Andrews, from Navigators.

Another one of my favorite speakers was Jaime Lash, who spoke on the judgment seat of Christ. In particular, he told a story about a dream in which those who were in heaven were simultaneously weeping and rejoicing, depending upon whether their works in life had withstood the test of fire, the final judgment of one's life by the torch of the Lord. He juxtaposed the pile of gold, silver, and jewels in front of Christ's most faithful servants with the barren circle of earth in front of one who had spent his life building his own kingdom.

This had a real impact on me, and it made me question what I am doing and where I am going in law school. Am I more concerned with service and doing what God wants me to do (storing treasures in heaven) or with building my resume and impressing the person sitting on the opposite side of the interview table (treasures in earth)? When I get back to Columbus, I plan to do some deep self-examination, and take a long look at my priorities and time commitments. Some changes may be in order.

- Praise-I got a work-study job. On Friday, I start working at OCLC, the Online Computer Library Center, in Dublin. I will be working in the Legal Department, doing research, writing, and performing other legal tasks for the attorneys there. My hours this semester will be pretty limited, mostly on Fridays, but I am hoping to get in some more work in the spring, depending on what my schedule looks like. I am excited, since this will get me some more legal experience, and some extra money to help out with spending and groceries.

- We also got to do some sight-seeing while in San Antonio. On Friday afternoon, we walked to the Alamo, about a half-mile from the hotel. It was inspiring for me, as someone who loves history, to walk through the old chapel and see where the fighting occurred. There were also lots of historical artifacts, including the original Bowie knife, and one of David Crockett's law books, which was inscribed with the date-1828. There were also models of a cannon that was used, and the original wall was still standing. It was a sunny day, so the pictures should turn out well-I will post some on here once they are developed.

On the way back from the Alamo, and on Saturday night, we went through the Riverwalk. This is a river that runs through San Antonio, with all sorts of shops and restaurants along the side. There are boat tours you can take to see the city-we didn't have time for a tour, but we got to see everything just the same. The food was great-on Thursday night, we ate at a place called Mexican Manhattan, right along the river, and Saturday night, we went to a restaurant/bar called Rita's Ice House. I ordered the steak fajitas, and they were delicious-the best I have ever tasted. I definitely plan to eat there when I visit again.

I will have some more spiritual reflection in the next post. I have a plane to catch.