Death

Hi there. Sorry it's been so long since we've talked. You know how it is... things get busy, and, well... blog posts are the first thing to go. I'm going to try to mend this relationship. Here goes:

So, I've been thinking a fair bit about death lately. You see, my Grandma Young, 85, passed away on Valentine's Day from complications from open heart surgery. She and I were really close, so it's been hard for my family and me. It's also a time for rejoicing, though, because Grandma's trust was in Christ. I was blessed to have an opportunity to give a eulogy at her memorial service. These were some of my thoughts:

If you met Grandma even once, you know that she was an amazing woman. She had this incredible ability to make people feel welcome and loved. She often took people into her home to feed them, to give them a bed, to listen to what was on their heart, and to lend her advice (whether they asked for it or not!).

There is so much I could say about how she was an inspiration to hundreds of people. She went back to college (ISU!) in her 40's when her youngest son (my dad) graduated high school and went there as well. She then became a high school English teacher in Clarion for almost 20 years and was simply called "Ma" Young by her students. Towards the end of her life she divulged to me that she would occasionally shut the door to her classroom to pray with her students. Even though it was illegal, not one of her students ever complained or reported her. Dozens of her former students came to her visitation or funeral. How many of your high school teachers made such an impact in your life that you would go to their funeral --- thirty-five years after you last had a class with them?

Grandma never really retired like we think of retirement. She worked part time for my dad until October of last year. Until two weeks before she died, she played piano for the contemporary service at her church. When I asked her how she could stand the drums being so loud, she said, "I just turn down my hearing aids and I can't hear a thing!"

Grandma's greatest inspiration, though, wasn't any of the things she did. If that's all we're inspired by, we've missed the main point of her life--- her faith in Christ. My last memory of Grandma is visiting her in her hospital room, a week before she died. It was just Sam and I at her bedside when she asked us to pray for her. When I asked her what she wanted me to pray for (I get teary-eyed just thinking about this...) she said, "Please pray that I would help people to know the Lord."

Grandma's life and love was invested in the Creator of in the universe and His Son, the Savior of humankind. Her love for family and friends (though great) paled in comparison. Certainly she was far from perfect, but she realized that she fell short of God's holy and perfect standard and knew her need for a Savior. Her trust was in Christ for her redemption, not the work of her hands. This was her greatest inspiration.

The wonderful 18th century American preacher/theologian, Jonathan Edwards, had a similar outlook on death as my grandma did. Edwards wrote the following note to his daughter, Lucy, as she was the only family member present at his deathbed. His love for his wife is so eloquently and beautifully expressed that it causes my heart to well up with excitement as I look forward to having such a deep and long-lasting marriage with Sam. The last two sentences of this letter are so faith-filled and God-centered that I even get pumped at the thought of my own death! I'll end with Edwards' simple last words to his family:


"Dear Lucy, it seems to me to be the will of God that I must shortly leave you; therefore give my kindest love to my dear wife, and tell her that the uncommon union, which has so long subsisted between us, has been of such a nature as I trust is spiritual and therefore will continue for ever: and I hope she will be supported under so great a trial, and submit cheerfully to the will of God. And as to my children you are now to be left fatherless, which I hope will be an inducement to you all to seek a father who will never fail you."

Fantastic Photos

Here are some of the results that turned up as I searched the web for funny/amazing pictures from around the world:

Pretty sure this would qualify for the HOV lane:

 

I'll never complain about the #23 route on CyRide being crowded on cold winter mornings again:

 Keeping with the "overloaded vehicles" theme:

Maybe you've seen this... this dude draws sweet art with chalk on sidewalks in cities:

I thought you had to be in great shape to be a boxer?

Those tinted windows can make driving hazardous:

Is this what the actor who played Mr. Tumnus in The Chronicles of Narnia wore?

How does this even happen?

 
Gotta love those Chinese delicacies! (The origin of stinky tofu.)

 

Wonderful prank:

  

I know it's photoshopped, but it's still hilarious:

 

Disney World, Mini Golf, Jousting and Parkour

Sorry it's been over a month since I've posted. I've been crazy busy over the holidays, but I'm looking forward to getting back on track with my blogging with the rest of this month. Here goes:

So this weekend I was chilling in Florida. Yep, I got to go to Florida. My parents invited Sam and I for a long weekend (Friday-Monday) in the Sunshine State. We stayed in a condo, continued our family mini-golfing tradition (I won!), got to go to Disney World and experienced this sweet medieval kingdom dinner and jousting reenactment arena thing (we even got to eat our food without silverware). It was an amazing blessing to spend time with my wife and family and to get out of this blustery mess and into some 70 degree sunshine. But that's enough making you jealous.

I was sitting on the couch in our condo yesterday talking with my mom and she made a sad fact known to me: she had no idea what parkour is. I was proud to tell her that one of our ISU friends (Tim Odell) is the president of the Parkour Club at Iowa State. Most of you have probably seen videos like this, but, just in case you haven't, hopefully this blows your mind and makes your day:

Gradu... wha?!

So, I'm graduating tomorrow. From college. College. No grad school for me. I'm done. With school. Maybe forever. I am not attending classes anymore. I am no longer taking tests or writing papers. I may never do an MLA or APA-formatted works cited page ever again (and I'm oh-so grateful!). I'm done.

And that's weird. I've been in school for the last 19 years of my life. I don't completely know what living in the "real world" is like just yet. But the weirdest thing about graduating, I think, is that I don't feel like a big deal or anything. Maybe I should? Maybe I would if I got my doctorate? I don't know.

But it is a big deal, isn't it? I mean, I have been blessed with the opportunity to obtain a high-quality education in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Statistics say that by simply holding this bachelor's degree I'm likely to double my life's earnings. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for providing this opportunity for me to be financially successful.

So much more important than gained knowledge and increased earning potential, however, was the spiritual growth that took place in me over the last seven semesters at Iowa State. Can you see how God has lavished his blessing upon me?! He has drawn me to Himself in such a masterful and beautiful way here in Ames, and all while I have been learning about His Creation (even in those Bio classes that teach godless evolution as fact, there is SO MUCH to be learned about our Creator!) and doubling my financial potential as a student. His blessing is extravagant and unearned. In fact, how much less do I deserve this blessing than His children who are hungry for their daily bread in Africa or for His sons and daughters in the Middle East who are running from their families to save their own lives?

I have never known such hardship or persecution, yet He has chosen to reveal Himself to me here, in the richest of places. Those of you who are reading this who still have some time in college left: eagerly search for God in everything you do. Even with classes that seem pointless and professors that make your blood boil, look for how God is bringing Himself glory through that class. And those of you who have completed college: understand what a gift you've been given (even if you're still paying off student loans!) to be able to live lavishly in an abundant land.

Finally, those of you who have not yet gone to college: don't make the mistake I did as a freshman. Don't look at college as an education that allows you to selfishly pursue money, status, or obsessions. Check your heart. On the other hand, realize the magnitude of the opportunity that is before you. Don't let apathy, laziness, or complacency rule your heart, but in everything you do, do it with all your might for the glory of our King.

College is where you solidify who you are and where you're trained to lived out your faith (or trained not to) for the rest of your life. Allow God to reign in your heart, not selfish ambition. Thankfully, God pursued me and dragged me through my selfishness (though it's still my tendency) and into His arms. He has used the Salt Company, Cornerstone, and now Grand Avenue to provide teaching and fellowship to spur my growth. He even chose this time of my life to provide me with a wonderful wife. ("He who finds a wife finds what is good, and receives favor from the Lord" -- Proverbs 18:22.)

The ways in which God has blessed me and revealed Himself to me during these years is indescribably more valuable than any course I could have taken or any degree I could have received.

And I couldn't be more excited to never do MLA citations again.

GABY Update: Christmas Party!

Last Sunday, we had a Christmas party for our youth group meeting. We had plenty of cider, cookies, and salsa con queso with nacho chips to go around (Feliz Navidad!). Our first game involved unwrapping a present, the roll of a dice, and some violence. Here's a picture of Evan punching his way through a box:

And Greg, realizing there is yet another package inside:

Fun game! In order to get a shot at opening the present you had to roll doubles as Sam walked around the circle with two dice and a platter to roll them on. After rolling doubles, it became your turn to try to open the present. The first catch was that you had to put on a Santa had and a big, thick pair of gloves before you started on the box. The second catch was that the box started huge and easy to open, but inside the first box were ten more boxes-- each successively smaller and more difficult to open. Because it's not easy to unwrap with bulky gloves on several new tactics were employed, including biting, punching, and body-slamming.

After that we had a white elephant gift exchange. I lucked out and got a sweet flying disc thing. I gave a yellow, light-up, smiley-face sphere lamp do-hickey. Yes, it was sweet. Some of the more memorable gifts were: a 10-year-old toothbrush holder and used toothbrush, a frozen t-bone steak, and a plastic bag filled with water and six live shrimp (bought for $0.06 each at Wal-Mart).

Finally, some of the girls decorated a ginger bread house. It actually turned out pretty good. See for yourself:

Praise God with me because we had 18 high school students show up for the party, including two new visitors.
Now that's a gift to get excited about!

Ephesians 5:25-27

As a husband, I feel like you're supposed to have chapter five of Ephesians pretty well figured out. It's the "marriage chapter", you know? In fact, it was the central passage for the message at my wedding, seven months ago.

But, I think I missed one of the biggest points Paul makes to husbands.

The chapter starts off by imploring us to imitate God: "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Paul fleshes this out by differentiating between darkness and Light, foolish and Wise, secrecy and Truthfulness.

Then he continues by explaining that reverence for Christ is submission to one another. That's the starting point for his mini-sermon on marriage in verses 22-33. It is out of reverence for Christ (not because of any inferiority or lesser value) that wives are to submit to their husbands as they do to Christ. Likewise, it is out of reverence for Christ that husbands are to give themselves up for their wives and love them like their own body, as Christ loved and gave Himself up for the church.

But there was something I have always been confused about in Paul's nine-verse counsel to husbands. Verses 25-27: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

I read this and wondered, "How in the world am I supposed to present Sam to God as radiant, holy, and blameless?" I just took it to mean that I have a huge role in encouraging her, rebuking her, and training her so that God can use me to refine her into a better picture of His Image. Ok. This is true, but it isn't much different from the command given to all believers in 2 Timothy 4:2.

As I was reading this passage again last weekend, I realized that is is not my primary role to sanctify Sam (to make her holy and blameless) because that is Christ's alone to do. Sure, He can use me to encourage and rebuke her and lead her, but He alone is the one who can present her to God as pure and radiant.

So, then, what is this passage saying? It's pretty simple. My role in marriage is intended to be a replica (what a poor job I do) of Christ's role in the church. Christ presented the church to Himself as blameless. In the same way, I am to present Sam to myself as blameless. I have never done anything good enough for Christ to see me as pure, but He sees me as pure. It doesn't matter what Sam does or doesn't do, I am to present her to myself as without stain or blemish, but holy and blameless. I think husbands imitating Christ in this way makes marriages so much stronger, deeper, and loving and a more accurate picture of Christ's relationship to us-- which is what marriage is designed to be.

Once again, that is not to say I don't have the role of leading her spiritually, rebuking her sin, and encouraging her in triumphs. Christ also lead, encouraged, and rebuked His disciples.

But He always saw them as pure and radiant-- not because of how they lived, but because His blood made them so.

Beaches in China

I received an email from my mom earlier today. It made me extremely grateful for the beautiful beach environment Sam and I enjoyed on our honeymoon in Mexico. As a reminder, here's a photo we took of the beach scene in Acapulco (click here for a recap of our honeymoon):

Now, here's what a honeymoon on the beach could have looked like if we'd gone to China instead:

Not a square inch is left unused on this beach:

Notice the lifeguards in their stands (an impossible job?) and the smog:

...I like the guy who stored his inner tube on top of his umbrella.

Yep, I think our beach in Mexico was a little more comfortable than if we'd gone to China:

All that said, I love China. Some of my favorite memories are from that country, but the beaches don't look like a great place for a honeymoon.