Few things...

Last night I walked amid the dazzling firefly trees in the sweltering evening. Tonight, I'm in the hospital.

More on that later.

It's been an eventful week, in fact all of my weeks are eventful. I've been wondering what it would be like to live a normal life. I find the thought of climbing the corporate ladder nothing short of mortifyingly boring. Miguel Angel Torres, World Extreme Cagefighting Bantamweight Champion of the World once said, "You can't be world class in anything and live a normal life."

I'd hardly consider myself a world class anything, but then again, I think the normal life is kinda like dark matter out in space, though I think we'll find dark matter before anyone finds the normal life.

Last week, I helped one of my clients/students look for a job. I've helped others pass classes, plan for their future, got ones lights turned on, and whatever other needs arise in growing up. There are few things that make one feel great than helping those who cannot help themselves. I've realized Im incredibly blessed that I've been able to make a living out of helping people. By helping others see their undiscovered potential, we come closer to fulfilling our own. And I say all this not to stroke myself on the back and say, "look how great I am," but I've come to realize I need a great deal of grace to do what I'm supposed to.

I have a client load of 50, and providing substantial services for each every single month is quite frankly impossible, especially as I was working three jobs for the better part of last semester. So the folks at the state have me under a lot of pressure to help my people out. Hopefully they'll get me help rather than take my people away.

On the way back from one of my work sites, I stopped by the Stars and Stripes Museum in Bloomfield, MO. The Stars and Stripes was started by a group of Union soldiers who happened work in the newspaper field, found an unused press and decided to publish a paper for the GIs.

It's still in print today.

(The Museum is behind the barn)

Few things will humble one than realizing the sacrifices that were made so we can enjoy the lives we have. My grandfather fought in World War II. He was a full bird colonel and they gave him a star when he retired. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have been in the Philippines after MacArthur surrendered and to have held out and fought until he fulfilled his promise to return.

I thought this photo was particularly profound

This was said by 2nd. Lt George Kenton Sisler in 1962, in his last recorded letter. He died shortly after and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. I am very grateful I don't have to experience what he or my grandfather experienced. My parents came over in 1970, and I don't know where there is another country in the world where one can create a new life like here in America.

I've often wondered in conversation why I was born in America in this age, and not somewhere else, in another time. As I watch the world, I'm constantly amazed by what goes on.

Today, here, we can gaze into the wonders of creation

This is the Hubble Deep Ultra Deep Field. It represents less than one billionth of the universe.

We can see this, yet at the same time, I was watching people half way around the world die on youtube not minutes after they were killed.

I've been following the Iranian Election and subsequent revolution. 70% of their population is under 30, and I'm receiving the news and images and videos of what's going on as fast, in some cases faster than the news media does. It's incredible how youtube, facebook, and twitter, which we use for entertainment, others are using for survival.

We bare witness history unfolding before us in it's unrelenting march. These people are fighting and dying for the rights so many here take for granted. I don't know if I have the courage my grandfather, Lt. Sisler, or these people do. I don't know if I could face the hardships my students have had to face.

I'm grateful I haven't had to.

I read in Iran the hospitals aren't safe. Many wounded revolutionaries are disappearing from the hospitals. I'm grateful I can sleep tonight in mine.

Tonight, I'm getting tested for sleep apnea. I'll be surprised if I don't have it.

The Bed

The Table

The sensors. Some of them.

Before

Can you guess where these go?

When I started this blog, things were at a professional and personal high for me, with me having released my CD as well as had the best jobs and made the most money I've made. Now, there's a lot of things that can happen that I have no control over. That's all right, it's not up to me.

As my friend Jon Black sings, "Maybe the future is not in my hands. Maybe, it won't go down just as I planned. But this whisper inside of me says, to life your head.

It all serves as a reminder, my security, significance, purpose, identity, are not found in my job title, or paycheck, or the time and place I'm living but in the sovereignty of God.