Plugging Along

I was thinking the other day about highschool and then I thought about graduating from highschool. That was a great time in my life. But then I began to think about all the "stuff" I have done since highschool. Which got me thinking about how long it has been since high school graduation. This June will be 8 years... let me say it again, eight, ocho, acht, sege, huit EIGHT years!!!

After battling through a severe bout of depression, and after thinking about how I could have been a medical doctor by now, I picked myself up and remembered all the good memories my detour from school has given me. Then I remembered that on my "detour" I met Liz.

So I am happy about my detour... and I am still plugging along with school. One day I will be finished... I am not sure when, but I will finish. I will guess and hope that the day will come by next Spring.

SO, this is what I am adoing this morning.

Other Cultures

Hey everybody,
As I write this I am about 36,000 feet in the air and traveling from the frigid Minneapolis airport to the tropical regions of South Carolina. We have been in Portland, OR this weekend and were blown away by how beautiful a place it was. Everybody says that it is a rainy, dreary place… but that is not what we found. It was sunny everyday and the temp was in the high 50’s.
Not only is the place beautiful, but the culture and people are great! Even though at times it was a little weird for us southern hospitality, Bible-belt people. We found great places to eat, spent a good deal of time riding their amazing public transportation system that was free… and then we decided to come back again, next time for the outdoors. We did not experience anything but the city scene.
The city was a veritable potpourri of people; from Goth, to punk, to the trendy guys wearing the tight girl’s pants, to the hippie tree hugging types, to people just like Liz and I. There were people of every ethnicity under the sun. We saw the highly affluent and the homeless walking the same streets. For us it was a sort of healthy culture shock; one that I believe every person should experience regularly. Every person should spend time as an outsider in culture not their own. It stretches us to love people of every type, even when we are uncomfortable.
I am not allowed to tell you what we found out about the program yet… you will hear soon enough. Here are a couple of pictures to tide you over.

Wow!!!

You have got to check out this video... It is amazing and moving. I sat in my office and cried as I watched. And it was done in a night-club... even better.

just click on the link below and enjoy. then tell me what you think.

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=45dcd3f3f6282c43418c

Hanging in there

Hey Guys,
I just have to tell you that I am horrible at keeping up with this blogging thing. I guess my life is just not that exciting.
Liz and I are doing great! I guess for us that it is the little things that make our life amazing. Playing tennis, walking the dogs, watching movies, going to dinner, watching dramatic TV shows that we are completely addicted to, and just spending a Saturday morning lying around. We are great… we are excited about where we are on the journey of our life, and cannot wait to see how God will move us and guide us to where we fit best, in order to live for Him.
Liz is coming home from an interview in NC as I write. I told her that there were two places I was not interested in going, both in NC. She liked them both. Well, I guess God has a great sense of humor! We go on Thursday to Oregon. We cannot wait to go and experience another culture, especially one we have not been to.
I am learning how to work on a team, how to receive constructive criticism, how to ask for forgiveness, and how to become less so that Jesus can take the spotlight. ALL of these are hard lessons to learn. But I am glad that I am in a place where I can learn them, fail, and have people help me back up. I hope some of these lessons stick.
Pray for March 11th! It is the day that Liz and I decide where we are going.

Is it just another day Or the Sabbath?

Yesterday after church I went home… went fishing for about an hour… and then went home again. I laid in my back yard for about an hour and a half, reading and napping. It was wonderful. I got to thinking (scary huh?) while laying in the back yard about the Sunday and what it means.
To most people it is either one of two things; just another day to do whatever they want, or a special day they set aside for God. Jesus clearly came to dispel these notions. Mark 2:27-28 quotes Jesus saying to a group of Pharisees who are angry because Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. [28] "So the Son of Man (Jesus) is Lord even of the Sabbath."
Biblically, the Sabbath was the seventh day of creation where God rested, sat back and enjoyed Himself and all that He had just made. In Exodus 20, God’s fourth commandment is to “Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy.” We should take God’s example on the seventh day of the week to rest and enjoy God and all that He created. The Sabbath is not a day God made for religious services, preaching, singing, or most of the things that we associate with it. It is a day God set apart for His creation to rest and to enjoy Him. It is not just another day, it is a day that we should chill out and fall more in love with God as we wrap our minds around God’s amazing qualities and flawless character.
What did you do on Sunday?

Knoxville... Here we come.

This explains it all...

We made it to Knoxville and are hanging with the big comfy bed and a TV... with cable. Tomorrow we get to check out the town in daylight. We can't wait.

Tomorrow, Liz... interview. Ryan... exploring. We will let you know what we find.

General Update

We have 3 of Liz’s residency interviews down, 4 to go. We are going to Knoxville to go the University of Tennessee on Thursday night and coming back on Friday. Last week was the Medical university of South Carolina… went pretty well. Liz is getting a feel for the pros and cons to every program. Updates will be coming soon. We will make our decision by the middle of March.
For me, I started school again. Big sigh… I cannot wait until I am finished. I have been in school for too long. Six years to be exact. I hope to have a year left. Then I will be the master at something.?.?
I am excited about my class schedule this semester…
1. Transformational Bible Teaching
2. Facilitating Church Planting Movements
3. History of Global Christianity 2
These should provide some interesting discussions for the future.
Well this post was un-exciting to say the least… I will make sure to talk to someone about making this blog more interesting.