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.

Captivated by a Child

What is so alluring about a baby? Seriously, why are people instantly drawn to an infant? I was at lunch today and a baby at the table completely stopped the conversation by saying, "Hello, everybody." And when the words left her mouth, the entire room was staring, smiling, and let out an "awww." Her words were a little mumbled and sounded adorable. Even complete strangers, who had no connection with the child were swooning. There is something mysteriously beautiful about kids and I love it.

I don't remember being so captivated with children, until recently. In fact, I have a confession... I am obsessed with my baby niece. She is absolutely adorable. I have a picture of her on my iPhone that comes up every time I turn it on. And every time I do... I smile. She brings instant joy to my life. I get excited to go home to my family because I know she will be there (nothing against the rest of the fam, Love you all!). But there is something about a child that makes people excited. Maybe it is because everything to them is new and thus AMAZING. Maybe it is because we never know what they will do or say next. They are unpredictable. "Kids do say the darndest things!" Or maybe it is because they are our future. They have a fresh start at this crazy world and haven't been completely tainted by the darkness that is all around. Babies, youth, kids bring a hearty amount of joy to our lives.

After observing this little girl at lunch today, I thought of a movie that I think demonstrates this idea a bit. The movie is entitled, "Children of Men." If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest seeing it. But, it focuses on a future world where women can no longer have children (if you want to see the movie and you don't want me to ruin it, I suggest going to the next paragraph). Something happens to the entire earth population and not a single woman can get pregnant... or so they think. But the movie mainly follows a older man and his calling to protect the last young woman who is pregnant. The scene that captures what I am talking about is of the woman walking through a blazing battle with her child in her arms (picture below). Both waring sides instantly stop what they are doing and stare at the baby. They stop fighting for one instant and put down their guns. There is peace for maybe a minute. They are captivated by a child and what that child means for the world. There is hope for humanity.



And this brings me to another child. A baby that was born a long time ago, but is still alive in our hearts. A baby that gives us hope, joy, peace, and love. The baby that is Jesus Christ (God with us).

I am so glad to know that God came to dwell among us and did so by first being a baby. He could have chosen to come down instantly as a man, but no, He came as a fragile, tiny, baby. And I think that means something because there is something captivating about a child. They bring us hope, joy, peace, and make us want to truly love one another.

So... I pray that this Christmas be a Christmas focused on THE baby. Not on gifts, not on amazing holiday drinks from Coffee Shops, not on the long awaited break from work, but on Jesus. Not to say those things aren't good, but they aren't Jesus. And Jesus is REALLY GOOD!

AMEN

Passions: God and Music

Nearly everyday or at least every week, I ask a student, "What are you passionate about? What do you love to do? What do you think about? What do you find yourself doing in your free time? Etc. I thought these questions were pretty easy, but the more I think about them, I find them quite hard. As I drove home from work the other night, I started asking myself this question. "What am I passionate about?"

The dictionary defines "passion" as a "strong and barely controllable emotion."

So, what gets me so excited or emotional, that I become barely controllable?

The two things that come to my mind quickly are God and Music. Done. I am passionate about God and Music. There is my answer. But, then I started to think harder. If I was so passionate about God, I would be trying to spend every second of my day with Him. However, I find myself on Facebook more than I find myself reading scripture or praying for our troops in war, or adopting orphans in Africa, etc. etc. etc.

For music, I do find myself listening to music a lot. But if I was truly passionate about music, I feel like I should have mastered (or nearly mastered) an instrument, be in a band, or be spending my day researching new artists. Yah, I do that from time to time, but it isn't what captures my every thought. And the more I learn to play music, I find it is difficult and I lose interest. I want the easy way out.

This then brings me to thinking about what I do most often, or think about most often, or say most often, or laugh at, etc. And the more I do, the more I realize, I am passionate about Sin. I feel Sin has come into our lives and Satan pushes us to be passionate about sinful things. Things that make us lazy, things that fulfill our lustful desires, things that distract us from God.

I am passionate about Sin. However, I want to be passionate about God. Thus, I run, I pray for God to give me an undying desire to love Him and others. I pray God would give me the energy to seek Him. That He would fill my heart with an uncontrollable emotion to do everything for His glory.

And to bring this together...

Tonight I witnessed an older man playing the piano magnificently. He closed his eyes and played as if no one was in the room. Only Him, God, and the piano. It was truly beautiful. It honestly gave me chills. It was obvious this man was doing something he was passionate about. To make it better, this man had just recovered from 7 months of battling cancer. A cancer that could have taken away his gift, his passion for music.

Just thinking about this, inspired me to pick up the guitar and give it another try. Maybe I'll master (or nearly master) an instrument someday.

Prayers from Kids... Awesome!

These are too great not to share...


Dear God,
Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother. -Larry

Dear God,
I think about you sometimes even when I'm not praying. -Elliott

Dear God,
If you watch in Church on Sunday I will show you my new shoes! -Mickey D.

Dear God,
Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don't you just keep the ones you got? -Jane

Dear God,
I bet it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. -Nan

Dear God,
If we come back as something please don't let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her. -Denise

Dear God,
In bible times did they really talk that fancy? -Jennifer

Dear God,
I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that ok? -Neil

God,
I would like to live 900 years like the guy in the bible. Love, Chris

Dear God,
Please send Dennis Clark to a different camp this year. -Peter

Dear God,
If you let the dinosaur not extinct we would not have a country. You did the right thing. -Jonathan

Dear God,
Please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter. There is nothing good in there now. -Ginny

Dear God,
I think the stapler is one of your greatest inventions. -Ruth M.

Dear God,
I am American. What are you? -Robert

Dear God,
We read that Edison made light, but in Sunday School they said you did it. So I bet he stole your idea. Sincerely, Donna

Dear God,
If you give me genie lamp like Alladin, I will give you anything you want except my money or my chess set. -Raphael


Kids truly say the "darndest things."