Yup. It’s been a while. But I did warn you, so you shouldn’t be surprised.

Quite a lot has happened:

After being back from the Philippines for a week and some change, I was sent there again, but this time for a whole month. Upon my re-return, I went on a four day backpacking trip in Yosemite with my sister and a friend. Now that I’m back at work again, we’ve got a crazy schedule because of a really important project that I’ll probably talk more about later. Also, while all that was going on, LOST concluded their final season. And some other things happened too; like a giant hole opening up in the earth, a 13 year old reaching the top of Everest, and the World Cup kicking off (yes, it’s a pun).

So there you have it, my life and some world events in an eggshell.

People have been asking, so here’s a brief little update:

I moved into my new apartment  a couple Saturdays ago (the 12th) and I’m loving it so far. That whole move-in weekend was something of a big deal; between walking along the Santa Monica Promenade, eating out, watching the movie 9, shopping for household stuff, and having a big ol BBQ with a bunch of coworkers, it was a grand way to celebrate my official move to LA. This weekend will be my last one serving at Calvary Chapel El Cajon and, while it’s not going to be easy to say goodbye (hey, it’s not like I’m dying or moving to another country or even another state), I think it’s a necessary step on the path ahead.

****Update****

I’ve got a few pictures up of the place. Keep in mind the decorating isn’t done, so it’s still a little plain. You can check it out here.

As a wee lad, nap time was by far my lest favorite time of the day and I didn’t really look forward to bath time a whole lot either. But now I greatly enjoy taking showers (you were worried weren’t you?) and though I’m still working on it, I cherish every opportunity to get enough sleep. Though I still love eating as much as ever, my tastes for food have changed significantly over the years and my palate has been greatly expanded from the simple preference for waffles, fish sticks, and chicken pot pie (not that I don’t still enjoy those once in a while). Looking back, I see a lot of changes in my life; decisions and events that led me to where I am now. Unquestionably, there’s a lot of things about me that remain the same, the things that make me who I am. Perhaps some of those things will never change. However, while I can’t honestly say every change in me has been beneficial (I’ve likely become jaded in some ways and, for example, hate glitter now more than ever), I think the majority of the changes have been towards the area of growth and not decline.

And now it looks like a lot of changes are either upon me or fast approaching. Changes in where I’m living, the church attend, work, all kinds of changes and with them comes all sorts of decisions to be made. “Change is good,” or so they say. While that isn’t always the case, I think that it might be true in these circumstances. It can be frightening, all those changes coming at once. And yet, overall, I really don’t feel afraid (that in itself is a big change), despite all the unknown factors. It’s a good place to be, realizing my uncertainty concerning the future while not letting it cause undue worry. I don’t expect things to get easier but I do believe, in one way or another, they’ll be better, or at least more how they should be.

C.S. Lewis wrote that in everything we do, we are transformed in one of two ways. We are either becoming creatures of heaven or creatures of hell. I pray that the steps I take are ones leading up the narrow heavenly path. There are lot of opportunities for growth up ahead and I feel like I’m in a place of preparedness to make the right decisions, the ones that will honor God. Knowing my fallible self, I can’t be certain of this, but I have a hope and a deep desire for it to be true. There are many roads before me, but, God willing, I’ll choose the one He has purposed for me to tread upon, the one less traveled by.

Happy New (gnu) Year everyone!

And I feel like I’ve just gotten accustomed to 08. The year really should be longer.

I’ve been thinking lately about God’s promise that one day all things will be made new. It’s not just better, nicer, fixed, or even complete, but brand-spanking-new (probably without so much spanking). And it isn’t some things, but all. I don’t think the implication is that all things will be obliterated and replaced by something different (similar to the flood). The things which exist now will still somehow exist, but they’ll be new, transformed into a completely different state, one of perfection (like that scene in The Great Divorce where the evil lizard is transformed into a great unicorn). It’s hard to imagine what that means exactly, or how it will look, like trying to think of a new color that’s unlike any other color we’ve ever seen. We’re so used to the way things are, it’s hard to imagine everything we’ve known suddenly changing.

I feel like the more I hear about world events the more I realize how desperate and dying this place is. While we can make an impact for the better, it’s going to take more than all the humanitarian effort in the world to make everything good and right again. I can’t believe the theory that we, as humans, move in a constant upward motion, drawing closer and closer to utopia, evolving ourselves into perfection. No, it is the opposite; we had it and now we’re falling farther and farther from it, at ever increasing speeds. Politicians promise change, but rarely do their promises hold weight. Advertisements promise fulfillment. I love how this is exemplified in Blue Sky’s film Robots with with slogan, “Why be you when you can be new?” And yet no matter how much stuff we buy, it only feeds the insatiable craving for more. Are these the things we should place our hope in? People and products will always let us down, but in the smoldering ruins of our misplaced hopes and feeble attempts to fix ourselves, there remains God’s promise of newness, immovable and brilliantly shining. Although its final completion is still far off, real and effectual change can start now. Newness is for today.

Isaiah 65:17-19

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;
For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing,
And her people a joy.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
And joy in My people;
The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her,
Nor the voice of crying.