Vacation

Is there anything better than being on vacation with the one you love? Especially when you don't get to see that person very often! I spent a week with Susan in Washington D.C., staying with my brother who lives just outside the city. We saw a lot of the museums and monuments that are there. We saw both Air and Space Museums (there's a new one at Dulles airport), the Natural History, the Hirshhorn and Sculpture Garden, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Holocaust museum. It was a busy few days with a lot of walking, but it was a lot of fun and very interesting. We set no itinerary, just tried to get up at a reasonable time (a challenge after walking all day), head to the Metro station to ride into downtown, and go through the museums at whatever pace we wanted. I was very happy to discover that we both had about the same pace of going through, and neither was pushing the other or dragging along. We didn't get to see everything (an impossible task for one vacation), but saw the stuff we really wanted to. We also spent some time with my family and just relaxing. It was a really nice balance of doing a lot of stuff, resting, and spending time with my family.

On Thursday we went hiking to Annapolis Rock, which is on the Appalachian Trail and is where my profile picture was taken. I had gone there with my brother last year and couldn't wait to go back with Susan. It was a beautiful day in the 70s (the rest of the week had been in the 50s or colder) and we had a great time. I had really wanted a picture of us on the rock, so we had brought a tripod along to do that. We got it all set up, I set the timer, and ran to stand next to Susan. As I got there, a gust of wind picked up the tripod and blew it over the edge of the cliff. We watched helplessly as my camera tumbled 60 feet over the rocks. I realized that all the pictures from that week were on the memory card in the camera, so I had to go get it. I was able to climb down and retrieve the camera and tripod. The camera was relatively in one piece except for a few cosmetic pieces. I did a little messing around with it and it does still work, although the focus is really bad and you can tell that the gears with the lens are messed up. I'm not hopeful that it will work, but I'm having fun playing around with it. I'm more disappointed that we couldn't get that picture than I am about losing the camera. It was a decent but cheap camera, and there were several things I didn't really like about it. And it wasn't anyone's fault it got broken.

The next day we drove to Florida for our Church Retreat. It is always a great weekend and it was really nice to see the rest of my friends again. The long week with lots of walking (concluded by 4 hours of hiking) was really starting to catch up with me, so I was really tired. But it was still a great time. I'm really looking forward to moving back there in about a month.

Update

So I know I haven't blogged in awhile. No great thoughts to share really. But I will be gone next week to DC and then to Orlando, so probably won't blog again for awhile. So I thought I could share an update as there have been some developments on my move.

I have been officially accepted to Asbury Seminary, so now I'm just trying to sort out what classes to take, financial aid, etc. I have also sent in my resume to the area hospices looking for a job as a chaplain, and will also be contacting the hospitals. I'm also keeping my eyes open for other jobs besides a chaplain as well. I won't know exactly when I'll move until I do get a job, but I do have it narrowed down. I have plans in Michigan for Easter weekend (April 6-8), so I won't move before then. And I have plans in Florida for the weekend of April 27-29, so I know I'll move before then. And I'm planning on rooming with my friend Shae, so housing is set. So overall, things are coming together. I'm just waiting on the job.

Crash

This afternoon I watched the movie Crash for the second time. It's an extremely powerful movie, and usually produces strong emotions in those who watch it. The first time I watched it I was quite torn on how I felt about it. It's a very real, honest, and powerful demonstration of how we are affected by prejudice, fear, anger, power struggles, injustice and a whole lot of other stuff we like to pretend doesn't exist. One of the things that hit me the most when I first saw it was that it completely blurred or destroyed the images of "good characters" and "bad characters" in the story. I like to see people as mostly good or mostly bad, but that's mostly delusional thinking. Instead you see both sides of the characters and are left without a "hero" to pull you through the movie. It offers no warm fuzzies, no peaceful comfortable atmosphere. Instead it left me a little disturbed but very moved by the honest look at the corrupt world we live in and the messed up people in it, of which I am a part. It is amazing to see how different people's prejudices played on one other, fueling anger and fear which often got displaced, and brought out more prejudice. It is a violent spiral. This is definitely a movie that everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime. It has forced me to think about what my prejudices are and what brings them out. There were so many things said that rang so true to me and also seem so wrong. But it's healthy to confront the reality of the world and ourselves.

Desire

I am reading the book The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge. It is a follow-up on the book The Sacred Romance which I talked about previously. It's really speaking to something I feel Christianity, at least in my experience, has missed.

"This may come as a surprise to you: Christianity is not an invitation to become a moral person. It is not a program for getting us in line or for reforming society. It has a powerful effect upon our lives, but when transformation comes, it is always the aftereffect of something else, something at the level of our hearts. At its core, Christianity begins with an invitation to desire." (pg 35) He talks about the many miracles of Jesus and that each time he was arousing and speaking to their desires. How else could this be called good news? "Being offered tips and techniques for living a more dutiful life isn't even in the field of good news." (pg 43) If the message we are hearing doesn't sound like incredibly good news, then perhaps we're not getting the right message. The bottom line is not how to cure and manage sin. Jesus' purpose in coming was to give us abundant life (John 10:10), which doesn't sound like a life devoid of desire.

Has anyone else experienced this emphasis on the duty of Christianity? I have felt that if I could only get the doctrine and belief all correct, and do the right things, then I would be fine. I resonate with Eldredge when he says "we are told to kill desire and call it sanctification". And in doing all this, I have completely missed the real purpose. I have missed the One who created me, not for correct obedience (otherwise why give us free will?), but for a relationship. The One who gave me these desires of my heart wants to see them fulfilled (Ps 37:4). And I really am enjoying this book that talks about what the heart of Christianity really is.

Conflict

My friend Erika posted a blog about conflict in marriage. It was a really awesome blog, so I had to link to it. It's a subject that is rarely talked about with such openness and honesty, especially in a public forum. Conflict is something I've struggled with, and honesty and openness have become very important things to me, so I was very excited about this blog.

http://www.newaesthetic.com/2007/01/conflict-is-so-cool.html