Snapshots from El, Inc.

Updates!

Updates are looooooong overdue. A 2 month blogging hiatus is unacceptable. I hereby make amends in point form. Since I last blogged...

1. I got new shoes. From Fayetteville. The first pair of "real" Nikes that I've actually bought. $39 for a pair of white Nike Air basketball shoes. I love them to death.

2. I got my hair cut by a first-time hairdresser. One of the best haircuts I've ever gotten from someone with no professional training. Kudos, Anna, for actually listening to the customer's wishes. :)

3. I learned that when John told his disciples, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29), he was actually saying, "Look at the Lamb of God who is [right now] taking away [and putting on himself to bear] the sin of the world." This from a simple analysis of the layers of Greek semantics packed into the word "takes away" in that verse. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have here to learn New Testament Greek.

4. I've finally started learning jazz songs. For those of you who don't know, I ardently desire to become a jazz pianist, but before last week, I had zero jazz songs in my repertoire. Go figure. That's changed tho. I've learned "Misty" and "Peace Piece" (Bill Evans), and am working on "Autumn Leaves" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

5. Prayer meetings are growing!! It's exciting to see how God is moving on this campus.

6. I added "really-tasty-beef-semi-stew-with-onions-and-tomotoes" to my culinary repertoire.

7. I'm awestruck by how the Malaysian population on this campus has grown. We are now 22-strong, and a sizeable (and oftentimes vociferous) force on campus.



8. I got a grade changed from an A- to an A for one of my classes for last semester (Abnormal Psych) and can now give God glory for my first 4.0.

9. I've been driving like MAD. Made 3 trips to Little Rock airport and 2 trips to Fayetteville (running errands for Huy). And no one died. =p I did get a teensy bit lost tho.. But it turned out all right in the end, thanks to some cool nerves inherited from my beloved father, and to my co-driver Anna Yong's reticence from yelling, "What the heck is your problem??? WHY didn't you take that turning????". =p

10. I learned to play basketball. Yes, as shocking as that may seem, yesterday was the first time I actually learned how to shoot - from the legs, follow through with the arms, use the backboard, jump shots, etc. Many thanks to Susan Low (our resident freshman wonder-athlete) for taking 45 minutes of her time to patiently coach me. It's exciting to learn new things!!

11. I've learned to skip rocks. Yes, another new skill that I would expect me to already have under my belt. Cool, nonetheless, to watch a rock leave your fingers and skip across a body of water, thanks to fascinating mechanisms of physics I am unacquainted with.

12. I've been pressed with a growing realization of my own depravity and pride and abject need for God. May God continue working in me to develop the humble character of His Son. A life verse I have recently received has been from Matthew 11:28-30: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Many thanks to the Holy Spirit for opening my eyes to see the context of the verse: weariness and burden is a direct result of self-striving and selfishness and pride, the opposite of gentleness and humbleness of heart. Jesus invites us to adopt his mantle of humility and find the ease and lightness of that way of living.

13. I've been more active and outgoing this semester, spending time playing captainball on Sundays, swim parties, going out to lakes and mountains, playing racquetball (the American equivalent of squash), cycling. I've discovered that healthy eating and exercising naturally go together: the more I exercise, the less I am drawn to fatty foods and the less I tend to overeat. A neat little cycle that you might want to experiment with.

14. I'm beginning to look at post-baccelaureate options. As of now, I have a pretty good idea that God's direction is to go ahead to graduate school, so I'm working by faith on that assumption and searching for fields of psychology to specialize in and places to study at. At present, it looks like God's leading me to stay on in the States after graduation to pursue a PhD or PsyD. God's timing is weird (in a sense that it rarely ever fits our schedule) but perfect: I talked to Prof Jones last week, and found out they're just beginning to reach out and look for Universities to network with for internships and graduate school opportunities for U of O psych majors. I'm excited to see how He will lead and I will follow in the days to come.

Labels: For the spirit, Musings, News, Photography, Random, Snapshots

posted by Joel Chan @ 11:46 AM