Christmas in the "Sunshine State"

Christmas has come and gone, but the pictures of this lovely celebration live on. Here are some from my time in Florida.

In God's Hands

Here I am in God's Hands
With no worries and no plans
I am safe in God's Hands
No more weakness or disband
I am strengthened with God's Hands
Broken, burdened, unsteady land
I am rescued by God's Hands
Defeated death, making a stand
Jesus placed us in God's Hands

As I go into surgery tomorrow, I am confident that I will be safe in God's Hands. I am also amazed at the power of prayer and the generous friends and family who sincerely lift me up to God.

Thank you.

To Love is to learn

Lately I have been thinking about how we learn as human beings. What makes us want to learn? What makes us want to progress? What makes us seek out new and creative ways to develop? And I believe relationships play a huge role in this desire to learn more, to become more, and to love more.

Think about it... why do you study? Why do you read? Why do we go to school? Why do I desire to learn guitar (well, of course to meet women)? To watch a live surgery (for all my med-student friends)? To watch the news? We want to feel connected to others. We have this desperate desire to be in relationship. There may be other reasons, but I feel relationships are the key reason for why we want to learn and, in all honesty, why we exist. Now, many would agree with this, and this fact is very obvious, but I have more.

With this, I started to think of how important it is to be a teacher. And to go farther, to see that we are all teachers. We all impact each other in ways that we don't even realize. Our relationships are a part of our education. Anyone we come in contact with could learn from us. AND Anyone we come in contact with could teach us. Just knowing this makes me want to be a good teacher. An outstanding contributor to this world; to live a better story that will impact others to make a change. And the one that guides me the most is THE GREATEST TEACHER of all time. Jesus.

He teaches me how to love, which is more important than any other area of life.

In summary, we, as humans, are teachers and students. And what better way to teach, than in love.

A Servant's Heart

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we lived in a world of perfection. If we would have never been corrupted by sin. If we all loved each other more than we love ourselves. Which brings me to another thought...

"You need to learn to love yourself, before you can love others." I have heard this "saying" too many times and I, personally, do not believe it is true. In fact I think it is the opposite. I think if we spent more time loving others, I mean TRULY loving them, we may learn how to love ourselves more. There is so much joy in bringing a smile to someone's face. It gives me an uncontrollable energy. I think that is the joy Jesus promises us. He want's to make us smile. He gave his life so that we would smile in thankfulness!



To my friends, family, and those I may run into on the street... I want to love you more. And, I don't want to do it because it is something I need to check off in my Christian duties. But, I want to love you because it is something that Jesus would do and that is where I find my joy. I pray He grabs a hold of our hearts and wraps his arms around us.

Here is a verse that was read in church yesterday (an anthem to my new mindset):

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:1-4

THIS IS HUGE: "...count others more significant than yoursel[f]." This is something that I definitely can not do on my own. I pray God gives me the power to do this!

I pray for a servant's heart. To do good works. To bear good fruit. To make others smile.

Amen.

Exploring Old Passions

I miss arts and crafts. I miss drawing, cutting, coloring. I miss getting messy with paint all over my hands. Those were good times.

And thus I yearn to return to my roots, the days of old, the days where I didn't get distracted by bills, cooking meals, and who is engaged to who. I want to return to my passion of art.

A while back, I decided I wanted to try painting again. So this weekend I bought some art supplies with a good friend (who is way more experienced in painting than I). And today I began my series of music meeting paint. What better way to show my love for music, than to paint instruments.

So, I begin with the Drum (the instrument I can actually play).

And next the Violin (an instrument I wish I could play).

Following with the Trombone (an instrument cool people play).

And finally with the Saxophone (an instrument with soul).


I am excited. It feels good to have a project outside of work. It gives me something to come home to. Something to look forward to.

There is so much beauty in this world. Thank you Jesus for showing me this.

"There and Back Again." - Bilbo Baggins

Details:
Who: 2 brave souls (Sam and Todd)
What: A Road Trip
Where: San Luis Obispo, Big Sur, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Red Woods, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, and for the majority of the time... my car (yes we did sleep in my car one night).
When: December 26th - January 6th
Why: Because.

Sam and I did a lot, saw a ton, ate a decent amount, and drove way too much.

The one thing that I loved about our trip was the people. All of the things we did would have been pointless, if I did not have Sam or the many people we connected with a long the way. "Shared experience is central to living." God created us to be in relationship. With Him and with others. This is so obvious to me now.

So with this, I want to thank all of those we stayed with along our journey.

Rachel - Your house is lovely. Your hospitality is even lovelier.
Erin, Lis, and Julie - San Francisco would be somewhat boring without you. You bring light to a foggy city.
Morgan - Thank you for not making Sam and I sleep in your driveway. Seriously. And Thank you for letting us celebrate the new year with you and the rest of the gang.
Brenna - You make Sam and I feel at home in Seattle. I love that city and you play a major role in making it so beautiful to me.
Hannah - Ashland is a beautiful small town and it sounds like an amazing place for you.
Jess and Stig - Amazing new place. I miss our conversations. Thanks for humoring my thoughts on eventually moving to San Francisco.

And for all of those we saw along the way, it was a pleasure. Please come visit SB!

Here are a my favorite pictures from the trip.

These guys came along for the ride.















































These guys had a rough time.


Overall, a great vacation.