Radical.

"A wealthier man in our church family came to my office after we had been studying the story of the rich young man. He sat down, looked at me, and said point-blank, 'I think you're crazy for saying some of the things you are saying.' Then he paused, and I wasn't sure what direction this conversation was going to go. He continued, 'But I think you're right. And so now I think I'm crazy for thinking some of the things I'm thinking.'

For the next few minuets, he described how he was selling his large house and had decided to give away many of his other possessions. He talked about the needs he wanted to invest his resources in for the glory of Christ. Then he looked at me through tears in his eyes and said, 'I wonder at some points if I'm being irresponsible of unwise. But then I realize there is never going to come a day when I stand before God and he looks at me and says, 'I wish you would have kept more for yourself.' I'm confident that God will take care of me.'"

- David Platt in Radical p. 123

"So what is the difference between someone who willfully indulges in sexual pleasures while ignoring the Bible on moral purity, and someone who willfully indulges in the selfish pursuit of more and more material possessions while ignoring the Bible on caring for the poor? The difference is that one involves a social taboo in the church and the other involves the social norm in the church."

- David Platt in Radical p. 111

Above are two quotes from a book called Radical, which talks all about taking back faith from the American dream, that my dad is going through with his small group. I read the finances chapter. There are a handful of puzzle pieces related to where my life is going that are all starting to come together. This is a start.

Summer is ahead.

It's been a few months since I've posted. I left all of you hanging somewhere in the middle of Europe. Once I rejoined everyone I figured we'd just talk about it in person. I got too busy with enjoying everything to think about documenting it. I had a delightful quarter all in all. I had three new flatmates who were terrific, I lead worship along with another good friend at InterVarsity, I was recognized by PUMA as a good candidate for a footwear development position they have open (still in process), I learned an absurd amount of engineering and... point being, I had always figured when I stopped observing life and got lost in the craziness, I would stop blogging, but that wasn't true this time. I didn't want to waste a second. Now I'm on break with time to reflect more and write more.

This break, I'm at home mostly. I just got into rock climbing at RIT, but I can't do that here so I'm returning to my old love of tree climbing. The picture above is from a tree in our back yard that I've never climbed before. It's challenging and fun with a beautiful view from the top, over our house (you can just barely make out our roof at the bottom of the frame), across the valley, and to the sunset beyond. I think I'll post a handful of these this break.

I like life.

Wrapping Up (Part III)

Welcome to England. I was staying at the YWAM base in Haywards Heath called Homsted Manor where some friends of mine were. It was a beautiful place and it was good to see the Dixon's again. After arriving on Monday night, Jessie Dixon and I went up to London all day Tuesday where one of her friends showed us around.

We did a lot of the traditional activities including taking pictures with guards and visiting big ben and Buckingham Palace. The guard below couldn't move or talk, so we just walked over and stood next to him and got a picture... kinda awkward I suppose.
When we got lunch my receipt had a "Toilet Code" on it because the bathroom had a combination lock limiting it only to customers. We ran into that numerous times. It amused me.
Sorry, I had to. By the way, not a lot of air, or cleanliness in there.
We did a lot more but you can see those things on tourist websites. We spent Wednesday hanging out with the students at the base and then exploring the very petit town of Haywards Heath. A few people at the base spoke German so I got to keep it fresh for a few days longer. Thursday I had a relaxing morning strumming away at a guitar and was on my way to Paris.

Spinning IN Deutschland

a snippit of Bremen

Wrapping Up (Part II)

I'm calling this part II because I already have a part I. I'll be wrapping up till I get home I suppose. Let's go back in time now to Monday morning on the 14th of February, the day I left Osnabrück, bound for England. I packed up my things and abandonned my room. The caretaker came and inspected and the only problem he found was some dust... oh well.

I left my bags with my roommate and set out with my backpack to run some errands and set off. At 11:30am I caught the 2 hour train to Bremen (free with student ID). My flight was not until 6:30 so I had time to kill. Instead of taking the tram to the airport, I decided to follow it by foot and see what there was to see. Here is one of the random monuments I found. Someone said it references an old law that is still in the books that allows farmers to bring their pigs through the streets of Bremen. Who knows.

So after walking for over an hour, with some video documenting to be posted soon, I arrived at the airport. After walking through a city full of beautiful buildings it seemed as if RyanAir was kind of a disgrace to the city with it's cheapness. There were terminals 1,2,3 and E. E was for RyanAir and you had to walk through a passageway from the main airport to get there. Most of the building is just aluminum like a warehouse or something. RyanAir only had 3 flights that evening so they didn't even send the employees into the terminal for security check etc. until 3:30pm. When I first arrived there were just a few old folks with bags waiting...
While I waited I explored and decided to document this German phenomenon. I've noticed it most commonly in Restaurants. WC (Restroom) is almost always down. Usually down two flights of steps and down a long passageway, very away from everything. You know, like not close to anything at all. Maybe that would be gross? Everyone knows those rooms are gross but we all deal with it differently. In America we just call it a restroom and pretend it's a nice place. In Germany they call it "the toilets" and just keep it far away. Both work I suppose.
All the money I owned, I had on my person. Heading to England I had to change some over to pounds. Here is some of my money. I have all the commonly used bills including £, €, and $. Notice that the European money goes down to 5 (~$7-$8). Once smaller than that you have to use coins... I accumulated £10 of change in one day in London... very obnoxious.
Traveling went well. I landed in Stansted airport and then took a 2 hour trainride to Haywards Heath where a friend, John Dixon, picked me up and brought be to my room. More on that later.

to be continued.

Parisian Pigeons

So I'm not doing any real updates yet but I wanted show off this video of a pigeon climbing the steps up to Le Sacré Cœur in Paris. All is going well. More updates in a week I reckon!