Lazy Afternoon...

On Saturday afternoon I went to Starbucks after watching the Huskies grab first place in the PAC-10 from the clutches of the UCLA Bruins. It was a sweet game, but I missed a big chunk in the middle of the game because I had to meet a student for a tutoring session.

I went to the 'Bucks on the corner of Greenlake and Ravenna. It was totally packed as I went in to sit down, but I was able to find a spot in the corner in a pretty comfy chair. I went, in large part, to unwind -- to get out of my house and have time to people-watch and not be distracted by my computer or my roommates.

One of the things that I have been trying to do in the new year has been to listen to God for specific direction. I have a lot of big decisions coming up in my life, and I think there is a lot of anxiety in my heart right now about the future. What will I do next year? Should I continue to pursue a career in medicine? If so, how will I get there? Should I continue to serve at Crossroads or go with her church plant, The Downtown Church? Anyways, as a result of this line of thinking I found myself with a book about prayer on my lap and a fatty Bible on my armrest, my vanilla latte within arm's reach.

About two minutes after I sat down in the corner hoping to have some alone time, a fellow managed to sit down next to me and whip out his Bible and a pocket concordance, haha! So of course we struck up a converstation, and it turns out he is working for the Navigators doing something called Edgecorps. The really interesting part, though, is that several of my friends and roommates have been in a men's group for the past few years through the Navigators -- and, as the Lord would have it, the leader of the study is my new friend's boss, and the study happens to take place every Thursday night in my new friend's house. Small world: we turned out to have a solid set of 5 or 6 mutual friends right off the bat.

God has a funny way of using the time that we give to Him: we were each encouraged a great deal by our conversation, and as we compared what God has been teaching us I was keenly aware that God was using fellowship to speak to me instead of solitude. Which is interesting. Certainly there are times when we ought to be alone and be quiet before the Lord, listening to His still voice (which I need to do far more consistently in my life -- see "often" in Luke 5:16). Yet this weekend He used a conversation to speak to a specific circumstance in my life, when I had intended to hear from Him in solitude and "alone time."

John Owen

"John Owen’s treatises on Indwelling Sin in Believers and The Mortification of Sin are, in my opinion, the most helpful writings on personal holiness ever written."

-- Jerry Bridges

I just finished a book called Triumph Over Temptation which is a modern repackaging of three books by a guy with a cool name who lived in the mid-1600s. This was my second time through, and I think I will need to make it a commonly revisited friend. Every time I read it I am reminded of how SERIOUS sin is in our lives, and how diligently it needs to be guarded against with prayer and truth from God's Word. Does anyone talk like this anymore??

Some of the most piercing quotes, and most applicable to myself:

"Do not flatter yourself that you can hold out against temptation's power. Secret lusts lie lurking in your own heart that will never give up until they are either destroyed or satisfied."

"If sin entangles us in one area of our life, it will ensnare every area of our life."

"...both meditation and prayer particularly oppose indwelling sin. The are always designing the destruction of sin."

"When a man does not repent or deal with his sin, he cannot experience real peace in his soul."

"Satan blinds people to strive to serve God without having a real relationship to Him. To let sin alone in our lives is to permit sin to grow until it chokes and blinds the conscience. Not to conquer sin is to be conquered by sin."

"The excellency of a believer does not consist in how much he knows, but in what he assimilates and what becomes transformed within his soul."

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I know it has been a while, and that I should blog a bit more. Upon hearing that I was in danger of being removed from the "Blogs We Like" section of some close friends, I figured I can do better... :) I'll try to say a thing or two about my Christmas vacation if I get a chance!

Road Trip, Week Two

It has been a few days since my last update... I actually managed to spill water on my laptop last week, so that is good. My keyboard doesn't really work right now, but I'll manage. On with the summary!

After leaving Yosemite we had one of our longest driving days, and so we left early in the morning from our beautiful camp site. Our goal was to get to Las Vegas for the evening, so we planned to just miss Death Valley on our way down, since our car didn't have air conditioning. It is not generally a good idea to drive in Death Valley without air conditioning. That being said, however, we made a slight adjustment to our itinerary and drove through the North end of the valley after seeing Scotty's Castle, which was built in the 1920s as a vacation home for a wealthy stock broker. But now it is just a bit of a tourist trap for the National Park:

We got to Vegas in the evening and found our room in the Plaza, which is where Sinatra and the Rat Pack used to hang out. We were across the street from something called the Fremont Street Experience, which is just a big street with cool movie-type stuff on the ceilings. Then on the next day we walked the Strip for five or six hours after swimming and seeing the new Batman movie at the Palms. Vegas is pretty fake and lived up to its reputation as 'Sin City:' we all agreed that we probably don't need to ever go back. But it was cool to see some of the famous buildings and people... in fact, I met Jessica Simpson, but she was in a hurry so the photo turned out blurry.

After Vegas we drove up to a National Park called Zion (yup... lots of Mormon stuff) for a couple of nights. This was the first of many "Southern Utah" parks -- there are several really cool parks in Utah, most of which have truly amazing rock formations and natural scenery. Zion, for example, sports tons of unique and awe-inspiring views of things like the Checkerboard Mesa. There is also a huge arch in the park, which we were only able to see from a distance, but which I will say more about in my next post anyway.

Our only full day there was spent on a hike up the 'Narrows,' which is, oddly enough, a narrow canyon with a river running through it, and which you can generally hike if there are no flash flood warnings. We walked through a canyon with (sometimes) 1,000 foot vertical cliffs on either side, making sure to look for flash-flood hiding spots along the way.

Our next stop was to the south of Zion -- the Grand Canyon, which is in Northern Arizona. But we decided to take a quick detour to the North first, to see Bryce Canyon. Bryce is another amazing place, but we only had a couple of hours to kill there, so we just went out to some lookouts. Here is a picture of Kyle on the rim of Bryce Amphitheater, which is beautiful:

When we got to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, we set up camp and had dinner, but we also had our first big argument as a group of four men. Two weeks isn't bad when you think about it. :) We did go see the sun setting over the rim, however, which was a great experience and well worth a four mile hike in new flip-flops. Ouch. On the next day, then, we walked down the North Rim of the canyon along the North Kaibab Trail to Roaring Springs, which is a cool little spring where we were able to refresh and eat jerkey, carrots, and wheat thins. Quality meals always.

Again, we were on the edge of some hard-core cliffs, and were able to get some amazing views. And I probably shouldn't have put my legs over another ledge... oh well.

Road Trip, Week One

I just returned last week from a great three week road trip with some of my best friends. More than seven months in the planning, "The Greatest Adventure, Year 2008" was truly an epic adventure, though it probably has a slightly inappropriate name when placed in the form of an acronym. I'm gonna try to do a three-post installment highlighting the best bits! First: allow me to introduce the gentlemen...

Jeff Hodgson, one of my best friends, is on the far left -- he and I went to Lake Washington High School together many moons ago, but we really didn't know each other until UW. Next is KB Baby, Kyle Bjorback, who has been a good buddy since we met at a Phi Kappa Tau "BMC" Weekend our freshman year, and who is getting married in two weeks to the beautiful Lisa Dubbs!! Third from left is the one and the only Jason Boyett, an old friend from Crossroads Bible Church and the fraternity. We used to ride the buses to Bellevue together and talk about girls. We still do the latter. :)

We woke up early on day one and hit the road for Crater Lake, and stopped for lunch at Burgerville, which is Oregon's rip-off of In'n'Out or Dicks. We got camp set up in time to take a hike up to the top of nearby Mt. Scott to watch the scenery -- our first of many hikes to come, and a good warm-up. This is a pic of Kyle and Jason near the top.

We left in the morning for our next stop -- Redwoods National Park in Northern California! The drive was pretty sweet, and I was able to drive along the coast for at bit on Highway 101, then through ancient redwood trees on a scenic drive through the park. The trees in this part of Northern California are really ancient and humongous, in large part because it does not so much rain as constantly "mist" in the forest.

Our campsite was right on the ocean and only a mile or so South of Fern Canyon, which is an amazing gully where they filmed a famous scene from Jurassic Park II. Our campsite neighbors turned out to be an old Christian couple named Jon and Joan Archer - Jon is a pastor and was a High School teacher for many years, and knew the park inside and out. It was a joy to meet them, and a privilege to spend time with them touring the canyon and learning about the history of local indian tribes. Above is Jason, walking through Fern Canyon.

After another night in Redwoods we drove down to Chico State University, where we were grateful for the hospitality of our Phi Kappa Tau brothers there. It was cool to drive through some serious forest fires on the way down -- at times the sky was red and the sun was hidden behind billows of smoke.

Yosemite was the next stop -- we spent three nights on the river just outside of the park there, and on our first full day we hiked up to Glacier Point along the "Four Mile Trail," which is actually 4.8 miles, and which has a 3200 foot elevation change from bottom to top. There are some seriously beautiful outlooks on the way up, and the view from the top would be worth it by itself. Here is the view from Glacier Point, which you can just drive up to if you like, but which is far more satisfying when earned. Then a pic of Jason with the rest of the valley behind him.

Our next day was a hike of Half Dome (you can see the dome in the above picture on the right), which was about an 18 mile day. Doing a 10 mile hike the day before might not have been the brightest thing ever, but we at least learned that we would need to bring about three gallons of water! At the top of the hike you have to climb up a super steep granite face along some cables, which were really busy on the day we went up (a Saturday). Here is a view from the top: you can't tell here, but Kyle and I are sitting next to a 1,300 foot cliff. I probably shouldn't have dangled my feet from the edge, but you only live once, right?

Beautiful Poetry

Although the fig tree blossom not,
And all the vines of our small plot
Be barren, and the olive fail,
The sheep grow weak and heifers frail,
We will rejoice in God, my love,
And take our pleasures from above:
The Lord, our God, shall be our strength
And give us life, whatever length
On earth he please, and make our feet
Like mountain deer, to rise and cleat
The narrow path for man and wife
That rises steep and leads to life.

-- John Piper

I really like Piper's poetry, and I think it is one of the coolest parts of his ministry. Some days I find myself writing poems in my head, but I never really get around to writing them down for whatever reason. It wasn't until tonight that I realized that my "head" poetry is really similar to Piper's in terms of the meter. He fairly consistently rhymes in pairs of lines, or alternating lines, and will often carry a sentence past the break of the line, so as to match words from the middle of his sentences.

I should write some of my poetry down. But it probably won't ever find its way online... :)

Thomas Watson

"Christians, do you have a sad resentment of other things and not of sin?"

I just finished Watson's "Doctrine of Repentance," which I have started to read many different times in my life but never finished. It takes hard work to get through anything written by a puritan, and Watson is one of the easier ones. Every paragraph I read made me want to put the book down, journal, and work on something in my life for a month or two. It felt weird to plow through pages at a time.

One of his best thoughts -- and by best I think I mean most applicable to me -- was in a section in which he was discussing repentance among the church:

"Repent of your non-improvement of talents. Health is a talent; estate is a talent; wit and parts are talents; and these God has entrusted you with to improve for His glory. He has sent you into the world as a merchant sends his factor beyond the seas to trade for his master's advantage, but you have not done the good you might. Can you say, 'Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds' (Luke 19:18)? O mourn at the burial of your talents! Let it grieve you that so much of your age has not been time lived but time lost; that you have filled up your golden hours more with froth than with spirits."

This thought got me pretty good. A few months back I was able to have coffee with an old mentor and family friend, whose advice to me was to find my talents - to look at the things that I enjoy doing and that I am good at. Why? Because God has made me with a unique concoction of talents and passions, which are His gifts to me, and He expects me to use them! How am I improving on, and nurturing, the talents that God has given me?

About Time. Geez.

It's been a while. I am definitely a 'cyclic' blogger, and it just hasn't occurred to me to blog for the past month-and-a-half or so. My bad.

WELLLL... a lot has happened! I didn't get that job at the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, even though the interview went GREAT, but that is ok. It just means that God wants me somewhere else. I'm patient and I'm working hard - holding up my end of the bargain, so to speak - and God has provided thus far. Tutoring has been good, and the agency that I work for has made it clear that if I want to work full time for them in the fall, they would be willing to have me. That wouldn't be too bad at all, but it is still not quite what I want to do. It isn't the 'career' move I am looking for, even if it pays very well.

What DO I want to do? In the long term it is still medicine. I merely don't know how to GET there, which is why I have been looking for a job in the medical sciences for the past 8 or 9 months. But this has been very difficult for me, because at the start I feel that I am at a disadvantage, in that my degree is in something totally unrelated. Every time I write a cover letter or apply anywhere I feel like I need to explain myself extensively: "Well, I got a degree in math, but what I really want to do is work towards medical school." Plus, I am already at a disadvantage because Seattle is outrageously overeducated. To live here and have a degree is like living here and eating bubble gum. It barely matters.

Things have happily been very rich apart from career frustration. I'm continuing to learn a lot about life and God and family and community and everything else. Last week I turned 23 years old, and I can hardly believe it -- that is OLD. (Alright, I know it is still pretty young, but it shows that time is flying.) I don't have much time left to be young, so I want to start making the most of it :) It is interesting that God's Word has a lot to say about being young... look at some of these bad boys:

For You are my hope; O Lord GOD, You are my confidence from my youth...O God, You have taught me from my youth, And I still declare Your wondrous deeds.
--Psalm 71:5,17

How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word.
--Psalm 119:9

Let our sons in their youth be as grown-up plants...
--Psalm 144:12

The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel... to give prudence to the naive, to the youth knowledge and discretion...
--Proverbs 1:1,4

The glory of young men is their strength, and the honor of old men is their gray hair.
--Proverbs 20:29

Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.
--Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no delight in them"
--Ecclesiastes 12:1

It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.
--Lamentations 3:27

Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.
--1 Timothy 4:12

I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one... I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
--1 John 2:13-14

BOOM. There it is. The prime of life is fleeting! NOW is the time to make God the source of all my confidence, to live according to His Word in knowledge and discretion, to remember Him, and to be pure and strong. And I want to learn to rejoice! In Christ we have an amazing source of joy every day and at every moment, because we have Him in the midst of any trial and in the face of any circumstance, whether it be fantastic or miserable at the surface level. He came that we may have life, and have it abundantly -- all in the midst of any heartache, difficulty, frustration, or trial. I have been thinking a lot lately about a verse in Habbakuk that I hope will encourage you, and I'll end with that, but there should be more updates to come.

Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
--Habakkuk 3:17-18