Day at the Museums :)

Mom and I took the metro into the city today and our first stop was Starbucks. After sipping our coffee and eating our bread, we walked to the Archives building and saw the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. Our next stop was the National Natural Science Museum. part of the Smithsonian Institution. Mom was acting like a little kid, kissing the animals in the Natural History museum. She generally enjoyed herself, as we went a lot slower, paced ourselves, sat on a bench outside the Smithsonian Castle. Mom got a kick out of the pile of junk as the display in the middle of the Smithsonian castle, where there was a jacket from Fonzie's "Happy Days' show and the chair from Archie Bunkers show and a bunch of other Hollywood artifacts. After we went outside for a minute to see the garden and sit on a bench, she was sure we missed something inside (there had to be more than a heap of junk) and so we went back inside and found, after mom asked the guard if there was anything more than the heap of junk - a room with a guitar, a peacock and other interesting things. We walked all the way up Capitol Hill to 3rd and Pennsylvania where my friend Heather met us and drove us to the East Market.



Mom's highlight (and mine too) was tonight when we hung out with some of my old friends (Heather and Katie) and had a refreshing drink on the patio of a South American restaurant called "Banana Cafe". All in All, D.C. has been amazing. The only bummer about D.C. was that we didn't stay long enough to see the Red Sox whip the Nationals on Tuesday night. Our flight to Boston leaves in the morning. So, on to Boston. Go Bo Sox nation.

D.C. with mom

Today mom and I took in the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Gardens. We probably walked between six and ten miles total today. It was a lot of fun. I'm exhausted and will check in soon! :)

a world christian

Paul and Julia live in Washington D.C. and Paul is my boss for the national side of my responsibilities with the Student Volunteer Movement2. This week we are meeting, planning, preparing and praying here in Washington D.C. Another SVM2 full-time staff member named David from Oklahoma City arrived tonight as well. As we consider what God might be doing on the University campuses across the nation, one thing seems clear. Different Christian student groups that span a broad range of beliefs and ideas within the Christian faith, have had a growing desire to fulfill a certain destiny, part of which involves being a "world Christian" - a man or woman who has a global vision and a global passion to see not only their campus and their nation come to a living faith in Christ, but the nations and generations globally.

One of the highlights for me today was being able to be back in our nation, and no less to be in our nation's capitol -- the nation I was born in. What were the principles that forged our nation when it first came into being? It had a lot to do about freedom. Today it seems we've strayed so far from that. Yet, as I biked through Capitol Hill and over to the White House, I realized that this nation started with a dream too. A freedom dream. A dream to forge a new nation from the old. Great Britain's restraints and laws had become oppressive. People could hardly eek out a living. The United States was birthed to fulfill a common destiny.

I think about the girl I met in our nation's capitol. Fabiola. She came up to me to take her picture. She's in our nation as a nanny to a family in Northern California. She's from Brazil. I think about Brazil and the people.

And that brought me back to thoughts of what brought me to D.C. The Student Volunteer Movement2. Haven't we as believers come to know freedom internally -- freedom to genuinely worship our Creator, freedom to live a life that isn't given over to those natural base desires, but for greater purposes, greater possibilities? YES. I have been freed from so much and I want to be part of the freedom band.






Then I think about movements. What makes a movement a movement? The definition of a movement in one dictionary states. "a group of people working together to advance their shared ....ideas." More thoughts are spinning through my head. We look at some old books that Paul got off E-bay all about the FIRST Student Volunteer Movement. And then I remember what I read on the plane. It's a book I picked up almost four years ago but has been packed away in my parents storage room in Carson. A book called "The Vision".

As I consider what I read on the plane, I ask myself, Is this the cry of my heart? Sometimes. Sometimes it's not. But I want it to be. Here's "the vision"

The Vision - by Pete Greig

So this guy comes up to me and says:
“what’s the vision? What’s the big idea?”
I open my mouth and words come out like this:
The vision?
The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.

The vision is an army of young people.
You see bones? I see an army.
And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn’t even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.

They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations.
They need no passport.
People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the vision ?

The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes.
It makes children laugh and adults angry.
It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars.
It scorns the good and strains for the best.
It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.
It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers choose to loose,
that they might one day win
the great ‘Well done’ of faithful sons and daughters.

Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night.
They don’t need fame from names.
Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: “COME ON!”

And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing…
This is the sound of the underground

And the army is discipl(in)ed.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back boasts “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes.
Winners. Martyrs.
Who can stop them ?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed?
Can fear scare them or death kill them ?

And the generation prays

like a dying man
with groans beyond talking,
with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and
with great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.

They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive

Inside.

On the outside? They hardly care.
They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,
they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)
Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.

Don’t you hear them coming?

Herald the weirdo’s! Summon the losers and the freaks.
Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes.
They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension.
Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be.
It will come to pass;
it will come easily;
it will come soon.

How do I know?

Because this is the longing of creation itself,
the groaning of the Spirit,
the very dream of God.

My tomorrow is his today.
My distant hope is his 3D.
And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great ‘Amen!’ from countless angels, from hero’s of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed.


The Cambridge 7. A band of men. The movie "A Few Good Men" reminds me that it only takes a few who catch the vision and run with it. History is changed. People are touched. We are taken out of the context of the mundane and brought into the realm of global living. I can't afford to just think of myself. I can't afford to just think of my nation. He holds all nations in His hand.

And then I think of Iran. I'm praying for Iran - the people, the leaders......for freedom.

Great time last night

Last night James and I caught a Reno Aces game. My first game at the minor league ball park and it was a blast! We had a great time, the Aces won 4-2, and we fiddled with the Iphone so now I have access to several spots around the world and their weather.

I'm loving the Iphone by the way. I labored over that one for a long time but it will be well worth the investment with all the traveling I've been doing recently. I'm on a great nationwide plan and excited about it. I was also able to bring my parents into the 21st century and AT&T gave me 2 free flip phones for them. Now when Mom meets me in DC I won't be half as nervous and Dad can contact her directly. He loves that idea. I will actually be saving money, as I was paying atleast $150 a month with pay as you go on the oldest Razor known to man. I've had that thing since before Hungary three years ago.

My workout yesterday was great! First time doing spin class since Hungary. I enjoyed it and this morning I'm feeling the pain a little. When I get back from the East Coast my plan is to join my friend at the Sparks Y on Tuesday/Thiursdays for weights/spin class and hopefully start working with Kellye from Georgia on some new training schedules. Still waiting for the inexpensive heart monitor to arrive in the mail from Ebay.

While I'm traveling I decided that the best weight is my body weight and so I'll be doing crunches, lunges, squats, push ups and just come up with a schedule to do that 5 x a week with cardio. I'll be gone almost two weeks. I'll be glad to get back home and settle for awhile. It's tough living out of a suitcase.

Tomorrow in DC I will meet some of my fellow co-workers with the Student Volunteer Movement2 and we will be planning, strategizing and looking at different regions in the US for SVM2. I'm excited about that.

Off to DMV to sort out some kind of proof of insurance thing. Grghhh. They should have these details already but apparently, they dont.

Happy Father's Day to all the great fathers out there.

I think I need to hang out with fellow tri peeps

It's funny but every so often I get the idea that I want to train for longer distances on the Triathlon. There are many options, which is nice when you want to challenge yourself. But after Sunday once again I decided that I'm quite content with the Sprint distances atleast for now. I wonder if I could survive a longer distance and curiosity killed the cat, errrr, something. I'm not saying I want to do an International, Olympic, 1/2 or Ironman event right away. But I would atleast like to perfect my game on the Sprint Tri a few more times and next year look at doing the Olympic distance. MAYBE. Basically, that would mean doubling up on each event. Instead of 1/2 mile swim, it would be close to a mile; Instead of 12 mile bike, it would be 24 miles; and instead of a 3 mile run, it would be 6 miles. Somehow, I think I could do it if I trained well, but do I want to? Will I lose the joy and fun of it? Right now the Sprint distance is fun for me.

I was talking to a friend in Hawaii whose done 3 sprints, 2 olympics and a 1/2 Iron. She's debating on whether to do Ironman Australia in December. She said the thing that got her sucked into longer distances was joining a training group. I have already looked into groups in Northern Cal when I move through meetup.com and they seem to have some great groups for Tri peeps and for trail running and hiking there so I'm excited about that.
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Last night at Bible study, a friend of mine asked if I had anything to share from my week as far as things that stood out from scripture. I was honest that since I've returned from Hungary I feel as though everything has been wiped out of me. There really haven't been any great inspiring moments. I compared it to the latter years of many marriages I've seen, where the love and passion that was once burning has somehow become small embers on the fire. More than anything, it's a story of persevering. In that sense, I know that my love for God has matured but then I'm reminded of the scripture that says we should have that rebounding faith like a child.

A few weeks ago, I realized the state of my heart and was going to start a fast for focus and renewal. For me, fasting is a time when I purposefully choose to place additional attention on my relationship with Christ. By denying myself whatever I want when I want it, I hone in on the fact that I am a Christ-follower and I am saying that His words are my food to live by. But with the race coming up, I decided to wait until afterward before starting something.

I'm in day 2 of the fast - veggies, fruits, liquids and whole grain. So far, so good. There has been a real staying power inside and I know there are some good things coming on the other side of this time of focus and surrender.

This morning I read a devotional talking about Galatians 5:17 and how the flesh wars against the spirit. This was a perfect way to start the day and realize that "sweet will be the victory." Victory for me in this moment will be this.

Imagine a campfire where the embers are dulled to the hues of orange and red, no flame. Now imagine fresh firewood placed ontop and a torch of fire blazing from the center of the campfire. Thats the picture of victory in my heart this morning. To be set on fire for things that really matter, the most important things, where things of this world lose their grip on my heart. God knows this is what I desire, and He can do it!