Okay, you know the whole busyness of school and life and how it can catch up to you and consume you…ya, that’s what’s happened to me this semester.  I’ve been working hard for this one professor and doing more work in that class than in any other.  Believe me, its hard and frustrating – especially when you don’t feel you’re learning ANYTHING from him haha.  So, last week on Tuesday I made a pledge: 

“I, Jonathan Michael Bausman, pledge to uphold the fun aspects of college.  With six weeks left in my college career, I vow to no longer bow down to classes, work and that professor.  I vow to have fun and enjoy the little time I have left.”

So far, it has yet to catch up with me.  I’ve watched a TON of movies so far, which my favorite have been “Into the Wild” and “Sweeney Todd.”  Gone for a walk, went bowling, went to a lock-in, hung out and talked with friends, played Settlers of Catan (its a really addicting board game), gotten ice cream and slept.  It’s been GREAT!  I went on a “sabbatical” if you will from working out to free myself of some time and enjoy some rest.  So today I am going off my sabbatical but still planning on holding to my vow.  “I pledge allegiance to have fun.”

-Jon   

 Hey everyone, I would first like to say that I am sorry for not recently fulfilling my duties as a blogger.  Its been too long since I have posted.  I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!  I know I did, I went home and seriously watched seven thousand and sixty-two movies over the weekend.  I’m just kidding…but seriously I watched a ton of movies and a ton of NCAA basketball.  March madness is honestly one of my favorite times of the year.  But anyway, it was so nice to be home with my family and my friend Joe (who is a student at AU and one of my teammates on the basketball team and is also from England) and just relax.  So often I, and I am sure many of you can relate, just get so busy with school and sports and looking for a job for the summer and everything that I don’t take time just to spend with friends and family.  So Easter break was really a nice break from the action.

It is finally a little bit sunny out today, which lately it hasn’t been and its a little bit depressing.  I cannot wait until spring…well actually it is spring…so I guess I should say I can’t wait for the weather to start acting like it is spring! Spring is great time of the year.  It makes me want to go frolicking through the valley and giggle with my friends…haha!

Before I leave you I want you to know that if you are here at Anderson and are looking for things to do, I am going to get a list together of the best things to do in Anderson in your free time.

I look forward to talking to you all again!

Gray out.

 (Me and my roommates Joel and Nick)

This picture is a good representation of my life right now – it begs the question “what the heck??”  and “what is going on??”

I’m a business major right?  I have done a lot of ministry positions over the years, especially in college – two years as an RA, two church internships, camp counselor jobs, chaplain of Boosters and the list could go on.  However, I never really intended on doing any of that as an occupation after college……but things have started to change.  Over spring break I started reading “Waking the Dead” by John Eldredge.  Its a great book and very similar to “Wild at Heart” (which is def. my fav).  The last chapter I read talks about nudging, and how God nudges us and we should listen.  For a while, I felt like I was being nudged to make a Christian Ministries resume, and this was the turning point.  I decided to listen and made plans to make one and to call my friend Bryan who is a director of a camp near Warsaw, Indiana.  Turns out, that not only had God placed it on my heart to get in contact with him, but apparently God had placed me on Bryan’s heart heavily and he had been praying for me a lot lately.  That night when we got back from spring break, I was sharing a lot of things with my gf Traci, and that conversation was a blessing where God started relieving fears that I had built up inside of me.  He showed me where He had been working in ways I hadn’t seen before and encouraged me.

So, to be honest, I’m pretty excited about it all, but at the same time a little uncertain (okay…a lot of uncertain).  I don’t know what it all means in the big picture or where to go from here.  All I know is that God is nudging me to do certain things at the moment and I am trying to be faithful in those things.  Of course, it is hard not to wonder where those things are leading and where it all fits in the big picture, but I am trying not to focus on it.  I’m meeting with our campus ministries director, Stuart Erny (AMAZING MAN!) this friday to talk about some of it.  As he always told me, I should see life and where God is taking me as an adventure…and you can not have adventure without a little risk or uncertainty .  So here it goes!

- Jon

  There is a simple equation that exists.  Its quite elementary and basic, but when its broken down, its not hard to see why it works so well.  If some sort of genius mathematician, say Stephen Hawking, were to translate such an equation from binary code to prose, it may look something similar to this:

Mountains + Beach + Best Friends + The Girlfriend = The Best Spring Break Road Trip Ever

 So its the last big hurrah, senior year spring break.  One of the last opportunities to be carefree and enjoy the company of some of the best friendships I have.  It all started out with me planning on flying down to Florida to visit my girlfriend.  Then a few friends wanted to come and keep me company, which turned into renting a sleak and sexy minivan and making it a roadtrip across the South lands.

  So we road tripped it to sweet home Alabama and stayed with a family on top of Lookout Mountain.  We had home cooked southern meals, visited waterfalls, played lots of games and just relaxed.  Then it was off to West Palm, Florida where the main mode of transportation is either a Mercedes, BMW or Jaguar….so needless to say, our little white Nissan stood out.  We bummed around different apartments around campus and enjoyed the luxury of a free roof over our heads.  For me, the week was filled with the beach, nice dinners on the town, resting and catching up on some Z’s, frisbee, and above all else, enjoying the company of my friends and girlfriend, Traci.  She and I got to take each other on some much needed dates and I got to watch her perform at a coffee house on Friday night with my two roommates Nick and Joel.  Needless to say, it was a great way to end the last of my spring breaks!

-Jon

From back left to right that’s Nick, Me, Bryan, Joel, and the front are Traci and Alleigh.  Yes, it was the four guys and Alleigh doing the road tripping haha.