I have a diploma

It's like I'm legit now or something...probably the or something. ;-) I was so excited to get it in the mail and just hold it. I sent photos to my parents and my dad wrote back saying he liked the one with his sweet daughter in it the most.

A few hours later I got a follow up one that congratulated me on my accomplishment. LOL, it was almost like an afterthought. I love my Dad! My mom then thought that I didn't send her the photos and was miffed. I swear I sent pictures to both and we decided that maybe I ended up in Junk Mail. I guess that's what happens when I title my emails funny names.

The first one is of the official envelope...and then we reveal the contents. Lastly is me being really happy with my diploma and self. YES!

Sorry the pictures are so poor...they were taken with my phone. If you can't read it says Seattle Pacific University. Degree of Beachelor of Arts in Business Administration on December 12th, 2008.

WHEW! That's a huge load off my mind...one bigger and better things to worry about. Like Graduate School and what I want to do with the rest of my life. Sigh, isn't that like the question of life?

Time to figure things out I suppose...Here we go...

Update of Sorts...

I've been lazy lately about keeping this up and keeping up with old friends.  I don't think I've called Jessica since she left at the beginning of the month, so now I'm just really lame.  :(  I will call her this weekend.

There's not really a lot to write about right now.   I'm still kind of doing the same things...keeping myself busy with friends and other activities so I don't sit at home in my apartment alone all the time. I don't mind having nights home by myself on the occasion, but I really don't want that to be a habit...

Last night I went north to get korean food with Jon.  I ordered a rather unique dish I suppose because the waitress kind of snickered and tried to tell me that most 'americans' don't like the dish.  Obviously I am not a Korean person who eats all this food on a regular basis, but I really liked the dish.  In fact, there's leftovers that need to be eaten today. :)  It was an odd experience for sure.  The dish was chopped lettuce/cabbage marinated in a sweet/spicy sauce with cold pork.  The pork had been cooked and cut into fine slices.  It was good, but I guess I could see how some people wouldn't like it.    Some people really don't like Korean food....I think I'm going to have to work a little harder at finding a date and more people who do like it.  It's definitely not like Chinese or Japanese...or even Vietnamese food.  It's hard to explain.  

Last night I got a booty call text...I'm pretty sure the guy was not his normal self, turns out he was a bit inebriated.  Go figure.  None of that please.  Both of the above can be skipped. :)

The First Year of the Rest of Your Life

January 4, 2009 - First sermon of the new year

Pastor Dahlstrom had some interesting points at this last sermon, granted with the start of the new year he talked about a lot of things that I had been writing about in my blog. Things that I was struggling with and things that I was looking forward to in the new year.

What are you going to do with the time/talent/resources you have available to you?

This question kept popping up over and over and it makes me wonder what is something (at least one thing) I can change this year?

Parable #1 - The Oil Thing (Light the Oil Lamp)
Matthew 25:1-13
In this parable oil refers to the Holy Spirit and is not a litteral translation.

Observation

1. I need the Holy Spirit to do God's work
2. I can't use someone else's oil

Application
What habits will I develop in order to enable the Holy Spirit to grow? The parable talks about 10 women, 5 of whom were prepared for the arrival of the bridegroom in order to join the celebration because they had enough oil and 5 who weren't prepared. The 5 who weren't prepared tried to take oil from the 5 who were and were told to go find their own. They missed out on attending the wedding reception. Since oil refers to the Holy Spirit the parable was saying that the 5 didn't have enough of the Holy Spirit in them and that you can't grow by taking from other people. You have to prepare yourself and do the things that make you grow instead of depending on other's growth to get you in.

Parable #2 - The Parable of the Talents
Matthew 25: 14-29
We're not judged by what we have, but what we do

Observation
Stewardship is important
What am I doing with what God has given me?

Application
What is one area that I can focus on this year that is in the most need of stewardship? The servants in this parable were given talents by their master and two of them invested their talents and in return made more talents for their master. In turn the master rewarded them for their hard work. The third didn't do anything with his talent, instead he buried it in the ground. The master was not happy with this servant and gave his talent to the one who did the most with his talents. Each servant had a different numer of talents, but the parable is saying that while we all have different talents, we should be doing something with them. That it doesn't matter how many one has compared to the other...if one has 5 or if one has only 1 talent. The point is, we do something with what we have.

Parable #3 - Is not a Parable - Sheep and Goats
Matthew 25:31-46

Observation
Commends people for the work they do even when there are societal problems left in the world. There is a lot of work to do...it won't all be finished when we die.

Application
What is one thing I will do this next year to be involved in God's Kingdom? His kingdom is here on earth, we know that from verses in Revelations. Just because not everything will be solved at the end, it doesn't mean we should lose hope, roll over and not participate. His kingdom is here and now and will be here for eternity. God is the Alpha and Omega...the beginning and the end. this includes the past, present and future and if His kingdom is here and now and we're to do his work, this means that you and I should be actively engaged now.

The clock is ticking...this is the rest of your life and my life and since we don't know when Christ is returning, shouldn't we start now rather than later? You can't score points after the buzzer rings. This is it. Are you ready? Am I ready? I don't know if I'm ready, but I am going to try.

Sunday...tomorrow is Monday...and I hate laundry!

This weekend was nice...got to hang out with friends and get some stuff for my apartment. I am apparently terrible at hanging pictures because last night I was like 5 inches off on one side. The balance was off and my living room lost its nice "zen" feel...i would hammered more if it wasn't 11 at night.

Today was a failed day at laundry in my new place. I used my card to start a load in the washer and then promptly lost the card. It had $8.00 left on it too! I have no idea where it went and now all my laundry is spread all over the bathroom. Please...no one visit me today...I will be embarrassed over what's strewn about the bathroom.

I'm going to start reading more, the weekends seem like a good time to start that again; reading for fun that is. I read in college, but it was always for something I had to learn about, not something to make me happy. Maybe we'll start with some Jane Austen and a few other things that I'm interested in.

On a side note, I didn't go to church this morning because I've been really tired lately and since I forgot to post about last week, I'm going to do that today. See the most recent post...

Climbing, Lincoln Avenue - Train and Resolutions...

I really want to start climbing more. It's a lot of fun and it's a great way for me to get out and do something new. I get to work out and problem solve at the same time. Plus, it's adventurous. :) The thrill of falling and doing something crazy is always appealing.

I went to the gym for 3 hours today and I feel great. My arms are probably going to be tired tomorrow, but at the end of it all, it was totally worth it. I'm getting better, but it's a slow process. Jon suggested that I start climbing v2's, but i'm having a hard enough time with strength in the sense of hanging and moving...it's tough if you have a hard time supporting the weight of your body. I need more practice before i can move up. I want to improve, but it'll just take time and a little more effort on my part to "train." Lift weights and such...

I've also been listening to a lot of Train recently and a song that I've totally fallen in love with is Lincoln Avenue. It really is an emotional song and it makes me feel vulnerable and yet confident at the same time.

The lyrics at the end get me the most:

And I’ll tell myself, I don’t need you
I’ll tell myself enough to get me through
But I’ll finally show you how I should have been being with you every
day
If you can wait a little more

This feels like the time that I’m ready for you
Are you ready for me
‘Cause I’ll tell myself I’ll make it
through
I’ll tell myself anything to get over you

And I won’t blame
you but I’m finally ready to show you
That I’m ready to show you, I’m ready
to show you, yeah
I’ll tell myself that I never needed anybody anyway, but
anyway
I need you
I need you now
I need you now
I’m ready now

I think about how much this applies not only to relationships with people (I'm sure this song was meant for someone the writer loved) but it also applies to how I view God and our relationship at times. It opens with the I'll tell myself that I don't need you or anyone else...that I'll keep telling myself that I'm over it because then the pain will stop...just maybe I can convince myself that I'm good when I'm alone.

but then the song switches and we see that things can't be done alone. That all of a sudden we need them because with that person we're better and we realize that we should've been more because that person was everything we ever needed. I should be more...I should hold up my end of the stick when it comes to my relationship with God or with anyone else for that matter.

It's frustrating for me at times because I try to do things on my own and I push people and God out because I think I'm capable of being everything I need. Often when I do that, I fail. I get frustrated and I stop trying or caring because things crashed and burned. And then all of a sudden, I realize just how much I need my friends and God in order to accomplish great things. There are expectations of me to hold up my end of the stick in this relationship...that God has invited me into this story and that I need to take the initial step but then put in the work to spend time getting to know Him (reading the Bible) and having a daily devotion.

I always have these moments of feeling ready for something and then I start and uhm...I hate to say this, slack off and then eventually stop doing what i set out to do because I will admit to this: I am lazy at times. I don't want to take the time and put in the effort to things that are hard or things in which I don't get instant results. I think most people are that way, but especially me at times. I suppose that means I need to work on being better disciplined this next year. I've never been good at those kinds of things, but there's really no excuse for me to start and stop all the time.

So New Year Resolutions:

• Be More Disciplined - studying, reading, following through on things (calling friends, blogging, devotions, setting goals and completing them, attending church on a regular basis)
• Be more outgoing and open to trying new things - I've always been a little hesitant even though when I try new things I have a blast.
• Live my life to the fullest - Live my life the way it was meant to be lived...without regret, full of love and generosity and much more.
• Take the GMAT - afterall, I want to get my MBA. :)
• Learn about Networks, Computers (Desktop Management) and things that could help me secure a job in the future outside of work.
• Sleep more - when I don't sleep I'm grumpy and the lack of sleep makes it hard for me to focus and be my best. Sounds simple but you'd be surprised at the amount of distractions there are...cleaning, youtube...tv...watching shows online...chatting to friends...

I'm sure there will be other things over the year, but those are the resolutions for now. :)