so, if you recognize that, then that means
1) you attended the talent show at the atlanta05 conference (slight inside joke…), or
2) you’ve read Wild at Heart.

well, if it was #2, then you might be familiar with john eldredge.

and, if you’re familiar with john eldredge, then you might be pleased to know that i got to hear him speak live (yep, live!) sunday night at eastside. he’s on a book tour promoting his new book, Fathered by God. during his talk, he outlined the 6 steps in becoming a man. it was hot.
eldredge is one of my favorite authors. i just ordered the book from his site and can’t wait to read it.

and, on another note, i’ll be back in da lou this weds-monday for 2 weddings (jon & liz, dishon & kim), catalyst, kickin it with the fam, catching up with friends, and some bbq (c’mon, it’s memorial day weekend. somebody better barbeque…).

holla

something i read last weekend:

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. – II Thessalonians 3:5

so simple. i can’t think of a better prayer for me right now.

holla

but, i just got done watching “the express”, which is by far one of the best movies i’ve seen in a while (even though i’m kinda late to actually seeing it…).

if you haven’t seen this movie, i encourage you to rent the movie, block out 2 hours of time, and watch it.

once again, i’m inspired when seeing stories like this unfold before my eyes, knowing that if it wasn’t for brothers and sisters like ernie davis, there’s a good chance, a really good chance, that i wouldn’t be in the position that i’m in now.  it’s great to see where our nation is currently, but we still got a long way to go…

and, once again, i’m inspired to continue to step up my game professionally. to not just represent Christ and to represent my african-american background, but to be the best software developer i can be. and to still have an impact on those around me wherever i am. i mean, i love computers, but i can’t take my laptop with me to heaven :-)

the movie talks about an article that he wrote to a local paper; i found a link to it here. BUT, don’t read it until after watching the movie. you gotta watch the movie. and, i don’t know how true the movie is to what actually happened, but it was enough to let a couple of tears drop.

so, yeah, get the movie and watch it. and don’t be late for work the next day…

so, yeah, i was in st louis last weekend. and, yeah, i didn’t tell too many ppl. but that was on purpose: i was in town to visit family and washu/harambee/nsbe folk. it was only for the weekend, so i did a flyby (too far for a driveby). if i ain’t see you, then i’ll catch you on my next trip in may.

but, anyway, i came in town for my uncle’s 80th birthday party. my parents hosted it at their house, and there was plenty of people, food, and fellowshipping. i got to see all my family in st louis, which was pretty convenient :-).
my dad put together a live jazz combo in our living room for the party, featuring him on guitar, some of his friends on bass (eric moore), drums, piano, and vocal. and i also got pulled into to play piano on a couple of songs :-). it was fun though; it’s been a while minute since i played music alongside my dad.

i dipped out a couple of hours into the party to go to the Visions Concert at Graham Chapel the 560 Music Building (i say graham chapel out of habit :-). i was a little late though, as in i missed the first half of the concert, including dishon’s performance during intermission:-/. but, of course, the choir was bangin, and i had a good time.

but an ever better time was had with all the washu folk that i got to catch up with: OH-SEVEN! we was rollin deep, between those who were already in stl and me and carl flying in for the concert. it was good to see some of my WU07 classmates, even though there are quite a few that i know would have liked to have been there.
and apart from the concert, i got a chance to catch up with my peoples from Harambee, Men of Integrity, and NSBE (FIIIIIVE DEEP!!), all of whom i miss and am so excited to see do big thangs at washu and beyond. quick shout out to ‘09! i’m proud of y’all!!!

of course, it wouldn’t be a trip back to st louis without some kind of strange weather. well, it was clear and sunny when i arrived friday night, snowed saturday night/sunday morning, and brightened back up sunday afternoon. if i had told you that it snowed, you probably wouldn’t have believed me, but i have footage of one of the remaining patches of snow before i left on the left…

so, yesterday, i went bouldering. the weather this past weekend was gorgeous: hardly a cloud in the sky, temps in the 60s, and no humidity. and in some places you can literally see a mountain at every point of the horizon (the cascades, the olympics, rainier, or baker). straight up breathtaking.
anyway, back to bouldering: dave im’d me sunday morning to ask if i wanted to go bouldering with one of his friends phil. he likened it to rock climbing, but said that there are no harnesses. hmm…….
dave and phil (intervarsity connection—both of whom were on staff with IV at some point and have wives currently on staff) picked me up sunday afternoon on our way to gold bar, wa, which is east of seattle toward the cascades. our ride to the boudlering site became much more adventurous as the terrain got much more “gnarly” (according to the phil’s bouldering guidebook), which basically translated to not being able to take his minivan that far up the trail. so, we hiked the rest of the way. the view that we had along the way made it worth it.
phil was our bouldering subject matter expert, so he demonstrated what to do. at first, it looked like just climbing a rock, but it became more clear that it’s a bit more than that. more time is spent in figuring out how it can be climbed (again, no equipment, no harnesses, no hooks or carabiners). but, we did have one piece of equipment: we had a landing pad that we placed on the ground under the climber to drop to if the climb becomes too difficult.
i managed to climb the first boulder (pictured below), but it was also the last boulder i climbed successfully. we went to about 4 boulders. phil seemed to effortlessly maneuver up the boulders while dave and i soon realized how out of shape we were. needless to say, it was good times, and i got to do something i’ve never done before :-). and i’m sho ‘nuff motivated to stick with my strength training. what if i get stranded somewhere and the only way i could live was if i could climb some big ol’ rock?

peace…

almost two months since i’ve last put up a post…. but, please believe: i have not been wastin time in the mean time. what’s been shakin?

1. IE8: the browser that many love to hate (and hate to love) by the company that many love to hate (and hate to love) has arrived and is available for the world! IE8 is by far the best browser that MSFT has released, ever. and i think it’s the best browser that i’ve ever helped to release :-)
   if you run windows xp or vista, you can download it here.
   and there’s articles about it here, here, and (for some humor) here.
2. 6 months: feb 4 was my 6 month anniversary at microsoft. it’s been a wild ride, but i’ve learned a bunch about software development, the internet, and IE. i’m pretty sure i’ve mentioned this before, but i work on a great team with plenty of people who have helped me adjust (and still helping me adjust)
3. kickin it: as usual, it’s always good times when i get to chill with daniel and his family or yasmin and dave. ‘nuff said
4. lucy: now that i have more time, i’m starting to explore a little more of the area. i went to the pacific science center to see the exhibit called lucy’s legacy. while it only took me 2 minutes to look at the pile of bones, i spent almost 2 hours looking through the part of the exhibit that was deditcated to ethiopian history and culture. it was fascinating to practically walk through time, from Makeda to Ras Tafari, with pictures and artifacts and stories along the way. i haven’t taken a history class since my junior year in high school (on purpose), but this could probably keep my interest for quite some time
5. eastside: so, i’ve been takin eastside church a lot more seriously the past couple of weeks. i’ve been going to a great small group on weds nights (quick shout out to troy!) and fan the flame has been off the chains
6. springtime!: the days are getting longer, the sun makes attempts to break through the clouds, and it’s starting to get warmer. and we released ie8 just in time for it….
7. rock ‘n roll marathon: ya boy signed up for the seattle rock ‘n roll half marathon at the end of june. since i’ve paid the race fee, i feel even more motivated to train for the race. i did a 6 mile run yesterday, and it actually felt pretty good. let’s see if i can keep this up
8. back in the lou next weekend: i’ll be back in town next weekend for my uncle’s birthday party and the visions concert at washu. i won’t be there long, so i’m only tryna catch up with the fam and washu peeps (no offense to all my other friends in stl… i’ll hollatchyall when i come back in may)
9. 2GB: i bought an additional 2GB of RAM for my laptop yesterday, which puts me at 3GB. i’m sure somebody somewhere is just as excited as i am about it

so, to sum up the blog post: it’s all good in the ‘hood (i.e., kirkland :-)

peace

i ain’t lost my job. many folk have called/emailed/texted me to make sure i’m alright. and i am. thanks for checkin up on me

also, this has been a historical week, if you haven’t noticed. i can’t say i’m a ride-or-die obama supporter, nor can i say i have a genuine interest in politics, but i was proud (to say the least) to see a black man take the oath on tuesday. i hope everyone got a chance to see the ceremony, whether live or re-aired.

and… another highlight of last week was microsoft’s mlk celebration. the guest speaker was magic johnson (yep!) who talked about his entrepreneurial experiences in bringing businesses to “urban” areas that would not normally be in those markets. and he did a great job of connecting it to dr. kings dream. it was very refreshing and inspiring to hear what he’s doing for the community and the impact he’s having.

aight, holla

1. i miss everyone back in st. louis!!!!! i’m grateful for the time to come home for the christmas holiday. it was great to connect with the fam, my transformation peeps, washu alum, my intervarsity foundations team, sluh c/o ‘03 5yr reunion, and random kickin it with people.

2. you gotta check this clip out: http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3070902
it’s a preview of an mlk performance that yasmin will be in. this mug is hot!!!! if you’re in the seattle area on monday, please attend the event!

3. ya boy has been on the grind. for real. work has been cool, but there’s definitely been a lot of it. it’s an exciting time to be on the ie and windows teams (check out the stuff on the windows 7 beta…)

4. the sun came out today!!!! in a seattle winter, that’s something to praise God for

5. i went to a small group on wednesday night hosted by a couple from eastside church. good times, good times. and good people.

6. i need to start workin out again. i hate saying that at this time of the year because everybody is saying it. it’s the cool thing to say in january. but i want to get back into it for real for real. i went runnin last weekend and got too excited and i stressed my it band (iliotibia band runs along the outside of your leg). i ran too far and ran on steep hills. i’m fine now, but i had to walk (instead of run) back to my apartment, in my running gear, which made me look like i was over dressed for a walk :-/

7. ever seen “burn after reading"? if you haven’t, don’t start now. waste of $4 rental

8. i have nothing else to write. it’s just that 8 is an even power of 2.

holla

and here's why:
 

i really, really, really want to go into the office today. this is my last day before i go on vacation. why it gotta snow when i want to go to work????

alas, immabout to put on some hot chocolate :-)

but, don't let the hackers ruin the holiday cheer!

if you use internet explorer, gon' head and download this security patch from microsoft

and, for all the ie haters/ff lovers, please don't think that you're immune either: mozilla released some security patches too. so, don't think you have to uninstall ie from your system to be secure.

and i'm flyin back home to st. louis this weekend :-) i hope to see a lot of people soon!!!!

what it do!??

so, i was reading colossians the other day and ran across this verse:

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:17, NIV).

that's all. if you were expectin some deep interpretation on that verse, you won't find it in this blog, other than a slight reference to the title. just let it marinate for a lil minute.
anyway, here's another update of some of the highlights from the past month (i know, i know, i was supposed to be puttin up more updates, but just keep on readin):

fall conference
the puget sound area's intervarsity chapters held a fall conference at the beginning of the month. yasmin put together a worship team for the conference of iv alum who were in the area. so i got a chance to work with this worship team that she put together, which included chris on bass, isaac on drums, jon on keys, me on keys, and the (amazing) matt on 1) acoustic guitar, 2) electric guitar, 3) soprano sax, 4) tenor sax, and 5) flute. we also had yasmin, chelsea, and danielle on vocals. and, we was clownin the whole weekend for worship. i had a good time worshipping, spending time in God's presence, and working with the team as we served the students with our talents.
of course, the whole conference wasn't focused on worship. the speakers for the weekend were steve luten and cory greaves from mending wings ministries. they were both cool. the sum of their messages challenged us to identify ways to further let God into a part of our hearts that (or, at least, that's what i got out of it) and to get for real about letting Him in. so, yeah, fall conference = good times.

a lil washu/moi reunion
okay, it wasn't that deep, but jarrett (wu'06) came to seattle for an actuarial conference (yep, he's handlin his business for real y'all). we met up on sunday for lunch at ivars on the pier and went walkin around pike place market. chillin with another brother from washu = good times.

portfolio project
the portfolio project (a mentoring program i talked about in an earlier post) ended well after its eight week stint.
to celebrate the end of the program, we (the mentors and mentees) went to whirlyball, which is what happens if bumper cars, lacrosse, and basketball had a baby. it's basically the same as what we call demolition ball in stl. whirlyball with my mentees = good times.

dodgeball
i'm on a dodgeball team with some co-workers in the ie dept. it's about the only exercise i'm getting in my attempts to not turn in to the stereotypical out-of-shape computer programmer. anyway, we're doing alright since we won our first playoff game before thanksgiving!

eastside
so, some have been asking me about church and whatnot. in my quest to find a church home, i basically got tired of lookin (after 2 churches, i know) and have been going to mt zion and eastside church. eastside is a cool church: it's up the street, the ppl are cool, and the word is extra real. so, all i can say for now is we'll see :-)

tryptophan and the seidels
this thanksgiving holiday is the first thanksgiving i've spent away from my family. but i'm grateful for the many folks from msft, mt zion, and eastside who had my back and invited me to their gatherings on thanksgiving day.
i spent thanksgiving with the seidels. they've practically adopted me into their family. so, i celebrated thanksgiving with their family and friends. then we watched the seahawks game, where i did my best to pretend like i knew anything about football (anyone who knows football would quickly see figure out that i dont' have a clue...). then we played a game of hearts. every time i go to the seidels' house = good times.

oh, and since i didn't say this at the beginning of the post: happy thanksgiving!

back to almost 15 years ago...

so, i've already been on this nostalgic tip since i've left st. louis, but now it's for real. and you know it's for real for real because i used italics to emphasize for real.

but, it's a good nostalgia. it's not a homesickness. it's not regret. it's been more of a reflection and praise to God for what i've been blessed with in st. louis, for all the family and people and situations that lead up to where i am now (and wherever i end up in the future).

so, back to the throwback: so, y'all know i don't check facebook that often, but when i checked it today, i saw that i got tagged in this picture with all these lil kids. and, i'm like "who's taggin me in this picture with all them lil kids?". but, then i realized i was one of them lil kids. it was a picture posted by my second grade teacher mrs. ward from my 5th grade graduating class at westside christian academy.

then, i started lookin through all the pictures mrs. ward posted from wsca, and i started making friend requests to folks i haven't seen in a loooong time, as much as 15 years ago, but i still remember them. wsca has helped to produce some quality people, and i'm glad to be one of them.

now, back to the good nostalgia: if you readin this, then it probably means that you're on my exhaustive list of people that i appreciate for somehow influencing me one way or another. the whole "it takes a village" is true. my village spans all through the stl metro area, from the northside to the southside, and various places in between, from my contacts and experiences from preschool to grad school.

and, it's cool to see how God is growing my network up here in seattle. much, much love to the andresens and seidels. i really have no idea what my experience outside of work would be like without them.

okay, that's probably all the mushy stuff i can handle for one blog entry. and i know this entry is typical to an enfj's perspective, but i don't know what to tell y'all :-)

holla!

y'all heard the old rev. james cleveland's remake of gladys knight's song? that mug is firrre. i don't know why, but that song was on my mind/heart when i woke up this morning.

y'all can peep out the recording of it on youtube. does anybody know where i can buy it? they don't have it on amazon.com mp3 downloads :-(

and, you know what? jesus is the best thing that happened to me. hollatchasoon...

so, once again, i know this is a long and well-overdue update. but i'm still alive :-) also, if you check my blog, please leave me a little note so that i can know if i need to update it more often...

mt. zion baptist church youth/young adult retreat
on the second weekend in september, i joined the youth and young adult ministries of mt. zion for a retreat at a resort out near mt. rainier. the weather was perfect for the whole weekend. the retreat consisted of workshops on saturday morning (of which i lead one), free time, a prayer hike (it was indeed a hike, but God did speak to us during the hike :-), and we rounded it off on sunday morning with a time of reflection and also skits pertaining to the material of the conference (the focus of the retreat was prayer). i gained quite a reputation from the skit that we did where i performed a drive-by on the father of the main character (i know, i know...... you just had to have been there). i had a good time regardless and got a chance to connect with a lot of people from the church.

work
i know a lot of people have been asking me about work. work has been going well. i'm working in a cool dept. we all been on the grind as we work on the final release of ie8 (if you haven't checked out the beta 2, gon' head and do it!). but, yeah, i'm working with some cool people, some smart people. and it's never a dull moment :-)

hurrcut
so, after 6 weeks out of st. louis, i finally got my first haircut in seattle. it was actually quite an adventure. first, it took me a while to get some recommendations (for somewhat apparent reasons...). the shop closest to me didn't fit in my schedule, so i ended up going to Paul's Custom Cuts, which turned out to be a 25 mile trip (that's one way). the haircut was worth it (esp the way i was looking...). so, after having this transformative hair experience, i realized that i locked my keys in my car :-(. this is one of the few thing that i've been afraid of in moving away from home. so, i called aaa for them to break into my car, and i got a chance to kick it at the barber shop as i waited for about an hour for them to come. yep.

portfolio project
by way of the blacks at microsoft diversity group, i got hooked up with a program through uncf and the y of seattle called the portfolio project. it's an 8-week program (that started last weekend) aimed at preparing high school juniors and seniors for applying to college and to be able to present themselves in the best way possible (hence, the portfolio). the portfolio will be a finished product that each student will have with academic, extracurricular, and personal information for use in interviews or any other pertinent situation. i'm participating as a mentor workin with two students, one of whom wants to be an engineer :-)

and... random chillin
-silver fork. a restaurant on the southside. at the spontaneity of dave, me, him, and about 6 other young adults from mt. zion headed over there after service a couple of weeks ago. the silver fork is on point: they got fried catfish, grits, pancakes, and all other kinds of goodness.
-daniel 'nem. so, i got a chance to kick it with daniel and some of his friends a couple of saturdays ago. they came to my apt and we played "take six", a card game that i think came from germany. and, yesterday, i got a chance to chill with him and his family again for a followup event from his missions trip to ethiopia. good times.
-dave's bday. happy birthday dave! yasmin hosted a planned-turned-spontaneous birthday party for dave a couple of weeks ago. the initial plan was a bike ride to gasworks park with cake, but it was raining too much. so, we all ended up chillin at their place, with 3 rounds of intense mafia and yasmin's vegan carrot spice cake, which i have to admit was pretty good (don't tell my dad i said that) :-)
-family pancake house. this is becoming the new spot after work on fridays. i've been going with a crew from my team. family pancake house has all types of pancakes (regular, swedish, strawberry, potato...). for my stl folk, family pancake house does not replace uncle bill's, but it'll help curb the homesickness :-)

prayer requests
-still adjusting. of course, seattle is not st. louis, but i've come to appreciate the area more over the past two months.
-continuing to build community in the seattle area. i have to put more effort than i did in st. louis (obviously). i love my people in st. louis, but y'all ain't up the street no mo'! definite praise report for the community that i have thus far.
-work. any prayer is appreciated as i continue to build up my skillset and knowledge of the codebase. it's been a lot of grunt work just figuring out how things fit together in internet explorer. but once i got it, i got it :-)

and, just for kicks: a reuters article.

holla!

okay, okay, i know this entry is a long time in the making. but, i'm a workin mayne now :-)
and, yesterday marks my first full month at microsoft!!! here's a little update over the past couple of weeks...

the arboretum | so, i went to the arboretum after church on the 17th to check it out. and, some of y'all might be like i was: what's an arboretum? it's kinda like the botanical gardens, except pretty much all outdoors. needless to say, it was beautiful and so green. after dropping by the visitors bldg (where there was a wedding reception going on), i started on one of the trails. as i was taking pictures, i noticed an owl along the way. i'm not sure if it noticed me first or if i noticed it first, but, i went ahead and started walkin in another direction (yep, i'm a city boi...).

new developers' training | the following week, i had new dev training at work. it was good stuff as i learned about the processes of developing products at microsoft. it was more wholistic than that though, looking at how to perform well and succeed as an employee and achieving good work-life balance. one of the main takeaways i have from the instructor is the following quote:

"The only occupation that could be unhealthier
than a software developer is a lard taster"

well, i'll keep that in mind and make sure i use the gym membership for real...

new apartment | this past weekend, i've finally settled into my apartment in kirkland. it's nice to have all of my stuff again. i'm slowly adjusting to seattle living, as in, the cost of living (my rent is almost double my rent from when i was in st louis). and, i finally have the internet (after two weeks of waiting...) because the isp activated the service in the apartment next door apparently. i know, some of y'all can't believe i went two weeks without the internet at home; i can't believe it either. i'm ready to admit that i'm dependent on the internet, and this was further proof of it.
but, regardless, i think i can call this place home in the meantime :-). i posted a quick picture to the right; if you want to see more, well, you need to book a flight to seattle and come see me!

kickin it with the bynums | the sunday before labor day, i got a chance to kick it with brandon (who works at microsoft) and vania (his wife) bynum. man, it was good times. they invited a lot of ppl over, including their family who flew into town the day before and other microsoft employees and their families. but, what blessed me more than the ridiculous amount of bbq was the chance to fellowship with some cool, professional, and down-to-earth black folk, something that i haven't done much of since moving here. it was good times y'all, good times. and, they wouldn't let me leave without a bag full of food, which i'm still workin off now :-)

if you think about me, throw up a prayer for me. i don't have any dramatic prayer requests or anything to worry about, but i'll never turn away prayer. holla!

gon' head and download internet explorer 8 beta 2. it's good stuff
http://www.microsoft.com/ie8

and, you can read more about it here and here

i plan on making a post this weekend for other updates. holla!

so, i've been a for real for real employee with microsoft for a week now :-). i had orientation for the first day + half alongside about 200 other new employees. on tues afternoon, i got a chance to meet up with my boss for lunch, meet others in the dept, and check out my office (yep, my office ;-). the rest of the week was spent setting up my office, my computers, getting access to files, fillin out more paperwork, and meeting other folk. good times y'all, good times.
it was also a nice surprise to see that one of my former freshman floormates ray is workin at microsoft, too. we caught up over lunch on friday. it was good to see a familiar face.
my mommy, shannon, and granny flew back home on tuesday nite :-(. that was a long drive to the airport. of course (praise Jesus), they made it home safely early the next morning. i miss you shannon!

on saturday evening, i had the pleasure of kickin it with the seidels. daniel, a student that i met while i was an intervarsity intern, is from seattle and told his family that i was relocating to seattle. of course, i got a chance to meet his family, but daniel is in ethiopia.... so, yep, i went to the seidel's home for dinner, and i ain't never met them before in my life. but, they totally welcomed me into their home. i met the family and some family friends, had a great dinner (mrs. seidel threw down in the kitchen), and s'mores in the backyard. i wish i had brought my camera!
afterwards, i hung out with luke (daniel's older brother) and his friends for catchphrase. good times y'all, good times.

sunday was off the chain. after church (at mt. zion baptist church), i met up with yasmin, who's on staff with intervarsity at u-dub. marshae, who's on staff in portland, was in town visiting yasmin, and david's (yasmin's husband) parents were in town, too. so, we all went to brunch at a vegan restuarant (don't worry-- i'm not vegan y'all), and it was pretty good (but i'll never admit it to my vegan dad).
yasmin and david took marshae and me downtown to check out some of the sights. we took a ride on the water taxi (pics below) across puget sound and went walkin around west seattle. we then went to dinner and saw iron man at the theater. so, yeah, i didn't plan on this when i left for church this mornin, it just kinda.... happened. and, yeah, i didn't get home until 1am, so i'm still adjusting to not being in college anymore ;-)  but, don't worry; i did get to work on time and had a productive day (don't yell at me momma...).

it's so cool to see God provide for me like this: hanging out with people that, initially, i barely knew but instantly connected with. that's how tight the Body of Christ can be. good times y'all, good times.

by the way, i put captions on all of the pics that i post on my blog. simply hover on them for more details.... holla!

so, i've used my one-way ticket and it's been 3 days since i've arrived in the emerald city. so far, so good:

• i got in on wed afternoon and, after getting my luggage, went to the counter to get my rental car. so, the guy was like, "how about a hummer h3?" and i was like "okay..." in my expected sarcastic tone. well... sarcasm lost to reality as he handed me the keys to a hummer h3, which i gleefully drove out the garage.
  my mom, lil sis shannon, and granny arrived later wed evening. after picking them up, we picked up the keys to my temp apt and brought our bags in. we immediately became comfortable after a long day of traveling.
  
• the next day, we went shopping and stocking up on stuff for me to have for the month, especially in the grocery department :-). mad props to granny and momma
• today, we went downtown to do touristy stuff. we went to the top of the space needle to look over seattle and beyond. we also walked through the pike place market, which was hustling and bustling with people, produce, and (of course) fish being tossed around at one of seafood stands. granny bought some ears of fresh corn, and i bought some rainier cherries. then, we went to red robin for a late lunch only to come back to the apartment for each of us to enter into our own food comas.
  

prayer points
- my new employee orientation is mon/tues. pray for favor, excitement, and openness
- sage and wisdom as i start makin grown decisions
- whatever else you think of if you think of me :-)

holla!

so, i've embarked on my journey through the derrty south before i get ready to head to seattle. it's starting out with the wedding of my good friend henry and his then-fiancee/now-wife sharon. i'm sooooo excited and genuinely happy for them! and, this is my first time being in a wedding party for real. but, it's allowed me to see a different side of God's goodness that i haven't seen before.

the first thing is seeing what friends God has truly blessed me with from washu. it's amazing to be together with a lot of the people that i met my freshman year at washu that shaped my experience for the rest of my time at washu. and, it's amazing to me to know these people all over the country. and, it's amazing that, even though i haven't talked to some in months, weeks, or even years, we picked up like we just left each other yesterday: like we just ate in bear's den yesterday, like we just bumped into each other in the cec yesterday, like we just had bible study yesterday, like we just played frisbee in the dark on the swamp yesterday, like we just rushed to turn in a physics problem set yesterday, like we just stayed up all night playing super smash brothers yesterday...

another related thing that i saw was how much that i've grown in being able to relate to others. i didn't realize this until chatting with sie deen (james' wife) and victor lin: if anybody would have told me in my senior year in high school that i would find myself five years later at dreamland bbq with a whole bunch of asians, i probably would have laughed in his/her face. but, again, God has blessed me with many friends during my time at washu, and it's not as much about color as it is our common bond through Jesus' sacrifice.

the second thing is seeing how henry and sharon (and their families) have shown me what it looks like to serve God and serve others, even at a time when i personally thought they should be receiving much more. it was definitely a privilege to be a part of henry and sharon's wedding party. yet, henry and sharon's servant hearts and attitudes were apparent throughout the three days we were with them. they were taking care of us selflessly while juggling the last minute details of a beautiful wedding. for me, they embodied something for me to look forward to in my future, something that will hopefully change somebody else's paradigm of a servant to God's glory.

as i get more pics, i'll post them to this entry.... holla!

in the spider web.

apparently, i've been yelled at for not posting much, so here we go:

so, today, i went to powder valley nature park to journal, pray, walk, and take pictures. but, i think God showed me something today that i haven't thought about before, especially for something that i'm afraid of.

tell me what you see in this picture:

yes, there's a leaf suspended in the air. no, i didn't take a picture of it while it was falling; that's how it looked when i took the picture. what was holding it like that? can you see it?

it was a spider web. as i was walking this morning, there were a lot of spider webs, some that spanned across tree branches, some along the signs on the path. and, my face almost got covered by one had i not being paying close enough attention while i was walking. spider webs are pretty good at what they do: they're lightweight, translucent/ nearly transparent, flexible, sticky, and effective. dang, isn't that how a lot of traps are in life?

so, how did i find where spider webs were along the path? it seems like something has to be caught in it for it to be noticed, like a leaf (as in the picture), or a bug, or light. of the three ways to notice one, i think the best choice is light; it's the only thing that we can see that can get caught in the web but isn't trapped in it.

i'm glad that God allowed me to see that before i head out of the lou, because i'm sure there will be webs along my path as the enemy or other people (or even me) may try to stop my future, my purpose, God's will for my life. i was encouraged to keep my path lit to see any webs before i get caught in them. and God has already provided the light i need:

Your word is a lamp to my feet
       and a light for my path. -- Psalm 119:105 NIV
The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man;
       it searches out his inmost being. -- Proverbs 20:27 NIV

my hunger for the word has weakened a little bit over the past two weeks, but i don't want to be caught in a web, so i know i got some work to do.

as far as the bugs caught in the webs, sometimes it hurts me to see others who didn't use their lamp to expose the webs before they flew or crawled or fell right into them. i've seen so many brothers and sisters in the Body get caught by offense, unforgiveness, disobedience, lust, greed, apathy...... and so on. i don't want to be the next one, and I know that God is gonna provide for me through His written word, through His voice, and through the voices of others that He's divinely placed across my path.

i hope this encourages y'all as well. i know that this was for me, but if you're blessed by reading it, then praise Jesus ;-)