35,000 feet

Yep, I'm actually posting from over the Pacific Ocean. We're flying back from our two week outing to East Asia, heading into LAX for a brief layover before finishing our voyage. I've had a fabulous time doing God's work overseas, and I soon hope to continue that work in the future. You can be praying about how that happens...but that's a different post for a different time.

There will be more to come on this topic, to be sure, but I didn't want to miss this opportunity to be a big airborne, wireless, PDA-toting dork. Thanks, Mike. You know I couldn't do this without you, and you know I mean that as a complement.

Talk to you soon...

Be back next month

Hey folks, this will likely be my last post for awhile. I'll be sure to write about my trip upon my return. Until then, don't miss me too much...

Crime and punishment

Ok, not so much with the crime, but definitely with the punishment.

As I prepare to take my 12 days of work off (comp time + all of my vacation time), I am realizing that the word "vacation" doesn't really do this justice. Around these parts, there's definitely an indirect punishment involved when one decides to take one's vacation.

Particularly for a long vacation, you spend several days getting ready to turn things over to someone else, tying up any pertinent "loose ends," cleaning out your inbox so that it doesn't bust open like an over-full bag of groceries in your absence, taking the last pick of the various candies scattered around nearby cubicles, delegating responsibility to others to water your office plants, etc. This is a lot of time and energy (though the candy activity generates energy on its own).

Then there's the dreaded day back. You can just hear the ominous music, can't you. I most certainly can. I'm not even gone yet and I'm really not looking forward to coming back. Yeah, there's the conversations about what you did that are always fun. And seeing your friends again is great, don't get me wrong. But the moment you open your computer and your email starts filing in, you can just feel your blood pressure rising. And then you look over at your phone, and you see the powerful glow of the "Voicemail" light, shining forth boldly. Your eyes scan your desk, and no doubt, people have stopped by to pilfer your tape, post-its and stapler. And didn't you used to have plants that were alive? Yes, most certainly when you left, they were green. But alas, now they've taken a turn for the worse.

But I don't care. I'm going anyways. Just a few more hours in my fabric-covered box and I'm outdo here like something that's really outdo here.

Still counting...

Less than 32 hours before liftoff...that is, if I counted correctly.

The countdown begins

At the time of this posting, I am officially set to leave the country in about 72 hours. Ok, technically it's probably more like 78 hours, but that doesn't sound as cool. That's incredible. I haven't left the country since before 9/11, so I have no idea about the new airport security, heightened traveler nerves, and the like. All I know is not to pack nail clippers in my carry on. I can handle that.

I'm the team scribe, and thus responsible for packaging the daily events in humorous, but sincere, emails. This is a weighty responsibility, I feel, but nevertheless, I'm ready for the challenge. In my head, I tend to compose thoughts in seemingly eloquent, artistic, rich sentences. But when they come out on paper, they tend to pale in comparison to how I actually crafted them. So the task is to just write, and to write well. I think it will be a good experience. I'm imagining that there will be a lot to tell, and only a limited amount of time in which to tell it.

Wish me luck! I'm off to finish up my curriculum work this evening. I feel like a graduating college senior who has to finish one last paper before they can walk the stage. I really don't want to work on this stuff, but I know that it's for a purpose. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

My credit card got a really good workout this weekend, in preparation for the trip. I bought some clothes, supplies, a backpack, a new Bible, and countless other things that I "need" for the trip. Ok, in all honesty, I really do need about 90% of what I bought. It's just that I bought it all at once, which probably wasn't the wisest move ever. But that's ok. It's just money. All is still well.

And if you ever need to find Texjoy steak seasoning or Purpose soap, they are available at Jason's Deli and HEB, respectively. Just something that I learned this weekend...

Would you like fries with that?

I live in a house with no ketchup. I now question the citizenship of all that abide here.

All my bags are packed

Well, not really. But that's the beginning of the song that just popped into my head. A friend of mine gave me a copy of Sinatra singing "Leaving on a jet plane" and I can just hear his crooning as I type this.

I'm getting excited about my upcoming trip. Only about 7 days to go, until I'm flying briskly over the Pacific. The largest leg of my trip will be a 14 hour plane ride, so I'm planning on taking some serious reading material. Not that the material will be of serious content, but rather, reading materials in serious quantities. I'll probably take the Chronicles of Narnia, which should be a good start. Any other plane reading suggestions?

My friend John is soon traveling to India for work. I'd like to go there someday. Two of my most fascinating friends are from India, and I've been intrigued by the culture ever since I worked with some grad students in college that hailed from that far away land.

I finished my typhoid pills last night, finally, but I guess you can't get an immunization from the travel bug. Ah, well, I'm off to bed. Sleep well, everyone.

Not so fast...

I'm in a bit of a pickle as far as knowing what to post. It's not that there's not much going on, but rather, knowing what portions to write about regarding what is going on. I'm sure in due time, it will all come together. I just need to be patient and see how it all materializes.

I know that experiencing God's peace is like no other thing on earth. And for that, I'm quite thankful. Knowing that, decisions (although difficult to make) that honor His desires above our own are far more eternally valuable than those that seek to give satisfaction to our selfish needs of security, happiness and pride. I also know that getting over something is not nearly as valuable as getting through something. And that only happens in God's timing.

So that's all for now. I leave you with something that was said at church on Sunday. I've believed for quite sometime that most (if not all) sin is ultimately tied to pride. Our pastor quoted something that went like this: "Independence from God is the only sin." That's probably not word for word, but it's close and my sermon notes aren't with me right now.

How often do I consciously seek independence from God? Who knows. But how often does it subtly play in daily life? Countless times.

That which is common to man

I've been thinking a lot about sin lately. I meet with a group of girls on Sunday evenings to go through a study on Titus 2. Last week we talked about purity, which led to a discussion about sin, which led to a discussion about temptation. The verse (I think it was supposed to be our memory verse) that has stuck with me all week, thus giving me the title for my entry: 1 Corinthians 10:13. "No temptation has seized you except that which is common to man." For some reason that's just been resonating in my head all week. Yet, as for it making a difference in the way I act, I've been failing pitifully.

Last night, for example, I had a lengthy phone conversation. Towards the end of the conversation, I just started to become really unresponsive and lethargic, which is pretty unloving to the person on the other end of the line, no matter who it happens to be. The conversation basically deteriorated into both of us being frustrated. I went to bed thinking about how unloving that was of me, and woke up with the same feeling.

When I woke up, the passage that came to my mind was Romans 7. I first remember really digesting this text during a mission trip on Spring break of my senior year in college. It was a rather long road trip from Colorado to Texas, and I got into a conversation about the text with some of my fellow van riders. In that passage, Paul wrestles with something I feel that we all do - the battle between desiring to do that which is good, but failing to carry it out. Read on...

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is the sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find the law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

I couldn't have put it any better. I earnestly want to drive to work calmly and peacefully, and I wind up road raging like a maniac. I really want to speak to people with a loving tone of voice, and I wind up mired in frustration and impatience. Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Someone pointed out that Paul, whenever he references his own sin, is quick to also reference his salvation through Christ. Too often I stop at just recognizing my own sin, and I get stuck there. I need to learn to also recognize the forgiveness I've been given.