On dying fish, killer snakes and being an RA

I am an RA who doesn’t have it all together.

Yesterday my roommate Elia and I returned to our room to find one of the fish we had bought two days earlier floating on its side in the uppermost stratum of water inside of its tank. We started yelling.

“He’s DEAD! He can’t be dead – we just got him!”

I checked Icarus and noticed that he was still breathing. It was then that the other fish in the tank swam up to poor Icarus and took a bite out of his tailfin. Yes, this is when I started running around our room screaming and freaking out.

“TELEMACHUS IS EATING ICARUS!”

For those of you who don’t know me, I have fairly massive vocal capabilities. To quote my mom, “You are very loud, Kristy.”

When I saw the fish I had picked out start to cannibalize the still-living fish my roommate had picked out, I exercised my vocal chords to the fullest, yelling my head off as I ran about our room, trying to process the horrific sight.

I would like you to know one thing about this bizarre occurrence: when they heard me yelling, my neighbors came to see what the matter was. Our neighbor Chelsea helped Elia move Icarus into an Intensive Care Unit… also known as a jar full of water where he wouldn’t be eaten alive.

Neighbors are there when you need them. I think this is what being a hall-mate is all about.

Later that night, we had our hall Bible study in my room. We were studying John 3, which makes a reference to the Old Testament story of Moses and the snake in the desert. Most of us were familiar with the story, but I decided to find it and read it for good measure.

Numbers 21 talks about how the Israelites were wandering after leaving Egypt, and they started to complain against God and Moses. They said, “‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’” This caught my eye.

Lately I have been reminding my girls that we should be thankful for the food we have, and this means not complaining about Aramark. When I read this verse about the Israelites complaining about their food, I decided to insert my own commentary.

“Hmmm… sounds like comments I have heard about Aramark before. Let’s see what happened to the Israelites after they said these things.”

I continued reading, this time raising my voice for emphasis: “THEN the Lord sent VENEMOUS SNAKES among them; they bit the people and many Israelites DIED.”

Take note complainers: Beware of Snakes.

Condemning most of Corban to a venomous death during Bible study is fun. Getting to laugh about it with girls in my hall is priceless. For everything else, there is MasterCard.  I think this is what being a hall is all about.

I am an RA who doesn’t have it all together. Some days I feel entirely inadequate. Some days I feel like the biggest failure there ever was. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about the thorn in his flesh that he pleaded for the Lord to take away. In verse nine, the Lord responds: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

I can’t do it on my own. I need Jesus. I think this is what being an RA is all about.