Always Only For My King

Take my voice and let me sing always, only for my King. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee. Take my silver and my gold not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect and use every power as You choose. Here am I, all of me. Take my life, it's all for Thee.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

even extroverts have their limits

today, hanging out with people actually wore me out! i know, hard to believe for an extrovert, eh? we had our first student feast for our church (free lunch for students after church), and there were massive amounts of people (check out fruit tart's post)! i guess nothing attracts students like good free food! anyways, with the 100+ people around, i had a hard time taking it all in! it's going to take me awhile before i can learn all the new student's name. so far i got chris, kevin, doug, dave, chris (these five were quizzing me and threatening to switch the order in which they were standing after i just got their names down), shannon and andrew, robert, adam, and dustin. hmm, mostly guys, i must seek out more females. :)

anyways, i hope all the students had a great time with us, and i hope they felt welcomed and loved. i hope that the students will just grow leaps and bounds spiritually this year, whether or not they decide to come to our church!

as a side note, i was curious of how many of the students found our church. one of the students found our church from the phone book. he was going to ask some of the student for more recommendations of where to go to, but after last week's sermon he said that this church was "solid" and that he was hooked. :) that's very encouraging to hear! :)

Saturday, August 26, 2006

occupation: housewife delayed

as the semester began, i was beginning to get worried b/c i hadn't found a job. but God is so good. it turns out i can be a student for one more semester, and my old department offered me a teaching assistantship b/c they had a huge need. God truly does provide! now, i have insurance to cover me the semester and pay until december. thank You God!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

occupation: housewife

with the beginning of the semester, many people have been asking "what are you doing now?" i politely answer "finishing up my thesis, and most likely be a housewife for awhile". sometimes, i've been faced with an awkward pause. it seems like they're not sure if i'm joking, or if i'm not, why i would want to be a housewife. granted i'm not planning to be a housewife for a prolonged period as i'm looking for a job, but it's not something i mind doing. as i talk with more people about it, i find myself in two modes--not caring what others think or feeling pressure of what i "ought" to do. i generally try to be in the not caring what others think", but there when i feel real pressure to get a job related to my degrees and pursuing some illustrious career.

in the end, i let those pressures pass me by. i do not see my education as a waste, even though i might not go into industry. i realize that God has taught me many valuable lessons and skills through my time at school that i can apply to many areas of my life, no matter what i choose as my occupation. some things that i've learned since i started undergrad are: self-worth, finding my identity in Christ, working outside of my comfort zone, thinking analytically, becoming a better writer, refining my organization abilities, learning to communicate effectively, becoming a better teacher, and finding out my passions in life.

college and grad school has definitely opened up many doors in my life, but i've learned that i don't always have to go through the ones that most people take. :)

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

no one mourns the wicked

nat and i had a great anniversary celebration in chicago this past weekend. one of the fun things that we did was see wicked at the ford theater. it's now my favorite musical. it's a great twist on wizard of oz. it's really funny and witty. :) i would highly recommend it.

Monday, August 14, 2006

shiny happy people holding hands

we didn't get to experience too many "shiny happy people holding hands" this friday. :( we got to experience the aftermath of the bomb threat in the UK/US--flight delays and long lines through security. when we arrived in newark, we found that we were one amongst hundreds of passengers that missed their connecting flight due to various international delays in europe. we stood 3 hours in line and were lucky enough to get get a flight into our destination city (unfortunately, not our destination airport). other people weren't so lucky; they had to wait until the next day. unfortunately, some of the passengers had already been traveling over 48 hours (due to the bomb threat). we could feel the impatience/frustration/anger in the crowd and among the workers, and it was hard for us to maintain a joyful and patient attitude. in the end, God helped us to be cheerful and thankful that we were in the US safely, to count our blessings, and to remember that the airlines were doing the best that they could.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

choosing to live outside my comfort zone

a theme that i've been seeing in recent days is the idea of choice/free will. i've been struck by how God did not force Himself upon us; He gave us the choice of choosing Him and worshipping Him. it's so counter-intuitive to me, but it's been amazing to reflect on that point these past couple of days.

this leads to my second thought this week: choosing something outside of my comfort zone. being in berlin this week, i realized that moving to germany might be a choice that we may seriously have to consider in the future. it's not one that we would make for ourselves; we'd much rather be living in the US in an environment and culture that is familiar and comfortable for us. moving to germany, or any other country would be hard--having to learn a new language and new culture, being far away from friends, etc. despite these hardships, i am encouarged by the ways God has blessed my own life as i've stepped outside my own comfort zones. just looking at this summer and how nat and i chose for him to go to germany for his internship, i am reminded of God's goodness. it was extremely tough, but i can already see the growth in our relationship with each other and with God and that has been a huge encouragement.

to end, i'd like to end with a funny story from germany. i went to get some bottled water in the storage room, and i thought the room was locked. as i started turning the key, i heard, "hallo? hallo?" i tried to open the door, but then i realized that i had accidentally locked the door and the people in it. i tried to unlock the door, and the the people inside began speaking german and knocking on the door. i panicked b/c i didn't understand or speak german, so i had to run back into the office and get nat. i was too embarrassed to go back, so nat unlocked the door and apologized for me. when nat got back, he chuckled and said, "they probably spoke english you know!"

Monday, August 07, 2006

ich bin ein berliner

a weekend and some jetlag later......

nat, michael, and rob have kept my weekend packed with activities! :) let's see if my brain can recall everything:

friday:
we went to eat dinner at the apostles twelve and walked around a nicer area of town. dinner was wonderful! nat, michael, and rob shared a gigantic pizza. we decided it was about 1 meter in diameter. needless to say, they did not finish it. :)

saturday:
nat and i slept in, and then we headed to the office to meet up with michael and rob. our day's goal: the beer mile. yes, i did say the beer mile. it's a beer festival they have in berlin with a long stretch of beers from all over the world. i believe there were over 1,700 kinds of beer at the festival. the festival not only had beer, but tons of food--pretzels (what michael called the "best pretzel ever"), wursts (we saw a 1 meter wurst), crepes, pizza, baked goods, etc.

for each stand, you had a choice of 1/3 liter, 1/5 liter, or 1 liter of beer, and each stand usually had a variety of types of beer. it was hard to choose, especially when the brands weren't familiar. but, there was a good variety--pilsners, wheat beers, dark beers, light beers, etc. in the end each of the guys each had about 3 drinks, about 1/3 liter per drink, but i think that lots of people had more than 1 L of beer! i think this would have been heaven for the frat guys!

sunday:
this was the first time i had worshipped in a cathedral-like church. it was very different b/c all the music and voice seemed to echo in the church. i got a chance to meet some people that michael and nat got to know over the summer. i met my first ramona too! :) it was very neat to see how many different cultures and ethnicities were represented at the church! :)

after church, i had my first doner. :) it's one of nat and michael's favorite food in germany. it's shaved lamb meat, some veggies, and sauce (optional) wrapped up in some bread. it was alright. :P

afterwards, we headed over to potsdamer platz. i must say, berlin is one of the cleanest cities in europe that i have visited. it has one of the most modern and interesting architecture that i've seen too. i guess if your city is bombed and demolished by war, it's easier to rebuild the skyline.

anyways, i digress. we went over to the national museum, close to the potsdamer platz, to see the berlin-tokyo exhibit. it was really interesting! i really liked some of the interactive exhibits. there was some abstract art that i didn't appreciate as much, but all and all it was very neat! after the museum, we headed over to checkpoint charlie and went into the museum. i didn't realize that germany had gone through so many tough times so close together--aftermath of WWII and the cold war.

it was a very full and tiring day, but God surprised us at the end. on our bus ride home, nat, michael, and i were talking about God. a guy came and sat with us and said "i heard you were talking about God when i was reading my Bible. are you christians?" that was so neat! it turns out, this young man was trying to start a Christian radio station in germany. i think that the meeting was so encouraging to see God working in germany! :)

well, that's about it. i'm still a little bit jetlagged, but i must press on and work! :)

Friday, August 04, 2006

i did it!

well, i did it. i pulled off what nat calls "the biggest surprise ever". despite flight delays and spending a few days of worrying, i got to berlin safely. and i managed to surprise nat at his desk at work. it was grand. :)

it's so good to be together again! thank you so much for your prayers throughout the summer. we've definitely been strengthened by it. :)