"But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" -Galatians 6:14

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ" -Philippians 3:7-8

This post is coming to you guys much earlier than normal, I have some time to kill before dinner and another improv show tonight, so I decided to go ahead and update my blog.

This "morning" (11 am), I went to Karyn's Fresh Corner for some good raw vegan food. I am aware that most of you are confused about how I could put "good" and "raw vegan food" in the same sentence, but it was true (Mom, you may be the only one who understands).

Portobello Napoleon (a raw vegan treat!)

After Karyn's, it was off to Wrigley Field for the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry. I was more or less impartial, but I bought a Cardinals hat in St. Louis so I chose to root for them. My seats were A-MAZE-ING! I was on the second row along the first base line. At one point Derreck Lee, the Cubs first baseman, caught a foul ball 2 feet from me (If you can find the highlight of that catch, then you could probably see me. If anyone does find it, I would like to see it, it was in the top of the 6th). In the end, the Cardinals came out victorious 7-1. Today was my third day spending a lot of time out in the sun, but it was my first time getting a sunburn all trip.

I was so insanely close to the field!

After the game, I did my first bit of clothing shopping for the trip. I went to Barney's to buy some more crazy colored socks to add to my collection. I found three awesome new pair! Tomorrow morning is when I will be doing the bulk of my shopping for the trip.

All the colors of the rainbow!

Pride is a sin that I have been fighting for a while. God has done a great deal recently in destroying some the pride in my life and replacing it with humility, but early this afternoon pride crept up its ugly head. I said something to someone that made me look like an arrogant prick, and though I apologized to her about it afterwards, the damage was done. That's one of the many things that sucks about sin, though the ones we sin against may forgive us, they still bear the scars of that sin, so it can never be completely forgotten.

Dwelling on my pride has occupied a good portion of my thoughts for the last 6 hours, and I am sure to continue in my introspection for a while. I know that I am forgiven by Christ, but I wish to learn from my sin to make incidents like this happen less frequently. I think of Paul, who although he was pretty much a "Super Jew", considered all the good worldly qualities about himself to actually be bad, because those qualities can have the tendency of instilling pride and self-reliance, rather than God-reliance. The attitude of Paul is one that I am striving for. Of course, sanctification is a process, and my growth will happen slowly over my entire lifetime. At least after I die, God will perfect me and pride will no longer be an issue!

God bless you all. Indianapolis tomorrow!

-Patrick