Leaving

After a crazy day yesterday, things are falling into place. I drove up to D.C. with Jason yesterday. Besides some traffic, a minor accident, and waiting at the embassy, things went fairly smoothly. We even met up with David outside the city. As we sat enjoying our delicious beverages, I explained to David that I had to come up again on Thursday to pick up the visa so I could fly out on Friday. He brilliantly suggested I take the train up instead and stay the night with him and fly out the next day from D.C. Needless to say, everything progressed and it looks like the plan will work. The only part I'm worried about is the visa getting finished by 4 on Thursday (that's when I'm supposed to be able to pick it up). The plan also means that I have to get everything done/packed today as I'll be leaving tomorrow morning for D.C. The itinerary puts me into Busan on Saturday night. Prayers are requested and greatly appreciated.

I'm so thankful for friends and family who have given prayer, encouragement, time, money and various other things to help this process along. Thank you so much.

Received my visa issuance number last night and set up an interview for Tuesday afternoon up in D.C. at the consulate. Working on a plane ticket now. Thanks for the prayers

Waiting

Why does it always seem that waiting is so hard? Why must we always feel like we need to be in control? The hardest thing in life is truly giving up this control even though it's more of "control" when we really think about it. A wise man told me this morning that waiting requires faith and that God rewards those who count on Him. He also stated that God usually doesn't come to the rescue a second too soon. While these weren't necessarily new thoughts, it was refreshing to hear them again. There's nothing really I can do about the paperwork situation, but I still wish I could speed up the process. Please pray for more patience and that I will get everything done before I leave (as per my personality, not knowing the time line has made me procrastinate some). Thanks!

For any fans of Stuff White People Like here's a new one: Stuff White Christians Like. For those unfamiliar with either of these sites, they are satirical in nature. There's my disclaimer.

My favorites for the Christian one are "Sunday Afternoon Naps," "Sunday Dinner," "Christian Radio Stations,"and "Getting Married Right Out of College." Enjoy!

Holdups

Apparently "key people" in Korean immigration are on vacation or something. Please pray that everything will be sorted out as quickly as possible. There's still some time so I'm not too worried, but I'd really like to get over there with some time to spare before the semester starts. Prayer (as always) would be much appreciated.

Summer Reading

Remember when it was mandatory to do summer reading? I'm not talking about just in high school, my school always had a minimum number of pages you had to read in the summer even in elementary school. That was actually better than high school because you could read whatever you wanted. In high school the reading was mandated to you. I still am bitter that I had to read Jane Eyre going into 10th grade. The other book was Lord of Flies which remains one of my favorite books, but it was a whole lot shorter than slogging through 500 odd pages of a Gothic novel. The girls won that year. For the record Wuthering Heights was better than Jane Eyre. Whichever Bronte sister that was wins.

Then in college there was blissfully no summer homework at all. It was a time to try and read for pleasure and finish books started for classes during the year. Usually for me this meant starting a good 3-4 books at a time and only finishing at most 2 of them. I think it didn't help that my brain was worn out from the year and I usually tried to attack academic works. But this summer I've had at least some success mostly due to more time on my hands. Here are some I read in the last few months.

Completed:
1. Fahrenheit 451-Ray Bradbury
-Great dystopian book set apart from others by its writing style.
2. Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Aren't Being Told About Israel and Palestine-Gary Burge
-Very enlightening read for Christians, especially American evangelicals who all too often support Israel for the wrong reasons.
3. Lone Survivor-Marcus Luttrell
-True story of a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan and his ordeal of avoiding capture in 2005.
4. Epic of Gilgamesh
-Mesopotamian story about man's mortality. Contains an interesting Flood account.
5. For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War-James McPherson
-Amazing book using primary sources to tell their combat motivations.
6. The Sound and the Fury-William Faulkner
-Troubling novel set in the South during the early 1900's. Not sure I liked it.

Almost completed (hopefully by the end of the week):
7. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Church-NT Wright
-At times reassuring, at other times mind opening, Wright seeks to restablish an Orthodox belief in Heaven and the Resurrection since all too often Western mindsets are Platonic and rational (from the effects of the Enlightenment).
8. All Quiet on the Western Front-Erich Maria Remarque
-A novel of WWI by a German veteran of that war, this hard hitting book puts a human face to war on the German side, but which could easily be any side of any war. It is very touching and reflective. Apparently it was banned in Nazi Germany.

The Might of God

"Have you guys looked outside?" Sarah said as she came into Jason's house. Bewildered we quickly ran outside to see massive storm clouds looming over Hampton and quickly coming across the water towards us. The wind picked up and the sky back over Norfolk took on an odd orange-red hue. It was like we were in the eye of the storm. Someone mentioned that this is what the apocalypse should/would look like. Soon the wind picked up and I could smell the rain. I began to feel the rain on my face and looked down to see little droplets on my shirt. Hampton had totally been engulfed and swallowed up by the storm so we couldn't even see the lights. Everyone else hastily retreated inside for watermelon, but I stayed on the porch welcoming the lashing rain with outstretched arms. The wind moved on the water sending visible ripples hurriedly across the cove. "Are you getting wet?" Jason asked. "Only a little!" I said as I returned outside with a hunk of melon. Finally I went inside and watched the night turn to day from the lightning outside. Matt decided that the balcony upstairs would provide a much better theater, so up we went. Indeed now the lightening was dancing at eye level and we had a 180 degree view over the bay. After each strike, I would blink and see the outline still burned into my retina. What should have been the finale if it had been a fireworks show was the simultaneous descent of over five bolts like fingers reaching down to touch the horizon. It was truly awe inspiring and beautiful. We also saw lightning strike a cruiseliner that was heading towards the tunnel. The stern glowed orange-red where the lightning struck. The storm continued to rage for another couple hours with flashes and thunder as a mainstay. Undoubtedly the best thunderstorm I've ever seen. The power of God was on full display.