2007 moments.

I’ve been at my parents’ home (the land of dial-up) so I haven’t had a chance to update. For now, here’s my favorite memories of 2007 in chronological order.

Baptism - My mom had me baptized before I knew what that meant as part of the Catholic tradition. I became a believer in 2001 and thought, “once baptized, always baptized.” Something always nagged at me that maybe I should look into getting baptized again, so I did. Actually, I wanted to become a member of The Village and had to complete that as a requirement. I took the mandatory baptism class which made the experience richer. I had my good friend Courtney baptize me as I stood in front of the congregation and my friends and declared my faith. We also had Palio’s pizza beforehand so it was a pretty good day.

The Band - My friend Megan and I always talk about music and our rockstar dreams. She found two other girls with similar passions and we rocked out for a month or so. At first, I thought it was a joke, but then I realized the drummer, Z, was amazing and Megan and the singer, Steph, were passionate about getting this thing going. We had a date set for Memorial Day to play a gig and practiced a lot, getting a few cover songs down. We goofed off a lot, but we also had fun piddling around and even hitting up church together. It was an unlikely combination, but it worked. Sadly, the party did not happen so we did not play, and when I came back from Asia, half the band started their real world jobs. We haven’t played since, but I’d be up for it again anytime.

Week before Asia - The week before my Asia trip was a hectic one. All the packing, planning, working, and my birthday was squeezed in there. All the encouragement I received from friends, family, and strangers was God sent and totally helped me get through the preparations and last minute hesitations. As a birthday gift, my friends helped me out big $$$ time and my bandmates put together a care package, complete with compact toilet paper and hand sanitizers. These gifts and the time spent made my heart happy.

Last night in Asia - I spent almost two weeks in east Asia and met some amazing people. During our last week, we dedicated our time to two of our new friends - seeing the sights, eating new food, and just getting to know one another. For our last full day together, we went to see the incredible fountain night show (while eating KFC!) then just sat outside and talked. I had a crazy moment of peace sitting out there, staring at the neon lights of the city and smiling at the entire experience. I want to go back.

Afternoon in Portland’s Living Room - After reading Don Miller’s books and falling in love with Oregon, I finally spent a week in Portland with my friend Megan. We hit up some hotspots like Powell’s Books and even went north to visit Mars Hill Church in Seattle. But hands down, my favorite moment was sitting in Pioneer Courthouse Square. We bought some lunch from some food carts (I think I ate a Philly Cheesesteak) and popped a squat on the steps. There were loads of people just sitting and chatting and the sense of community was welcomed. Megan and I engaged in some great conversation which topped off the moment. Dallas needs one of these.

Chantanapummas + Wii - I bought a used Wii for a fantastic price just in time for my holiday trip to Stephenville. My brother has been encouraging me to buy one, thinking the whole family would join in perfect harmony to play together. Well, he was right! After all those times my brother and I would play Guitar Hero on my PS2 while my mom danced, we finally had something all four of us could play. I have never seen my mom laugh so hard in my life. She ended up kicking our butts at bowling and laughed every single time she hit a strike (which was almost every time!) Even my dad ended up trying it out and determined to beat my mom at bowling (which he did at 3am once my mom was tired!) It’s my first game console since the PS2 I bought in 2001 and it has already earned its keep. I can’t wait ’til the next family get together and am contemplating buying one just for my parents!

Bring it on, 2008.

Ask Anything.

Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Seattle will be doing a series based on the questions submitted by people online. These questions have been voted for and currently the top 20 are posted. The list will be narrowed down to the final 9 on December 14th. I finally hit up the web site the other night and am intrigued by all the questions proposed. There are definitely issues I’d like to hear Driscoll speak about and plan on voting daily.

Everyone should definitely check it out at askanything.marshillchurch.org, vote, then subscribe to the Mars Hill podcast and tune in January.

Pride and punishment.

This week has been going in the right direction. It started off with a super face kick at church, when Matt continued his series on Luke, specifically focusing on humility and PRIDE. I left feeling really confused as to which one I belong to, as if I said I was rather humble, that alone would qualify me for being prideful! I decided it would be best not to choose either and just be mindful of both. However, the sermon is now sinking in more and I’m starting to see where pride reigns over my life. It’s awesome. If you like getting your teeth pulled. I mean, hooray for sanctification!

I’m super itching for change and started making a few this week. We’ll see how long I keep it up and then I’ll let you know what changes are happening around here. Well, aside from the blog layout change, ha ha. I’m growing discontent with being content. I think I’m just growing. We’ll see.

Tomorrow is the Dashboard Confessional Solo concert with Ralston and Augustana. I’m stoked. I’ve been listening to DC all week and have the new album and happened to acquire the tour-only accessible Wire Tapes, Vol. 1 album with cover songs. Although I think I might be outgrowing the emo genre, it still inspires me to go and write music that means something. Writing more music is definitely on the “To Do, For Real” list.

Time to take care of some things, but hopefully I’ll report more growth next time ’round.

Discontent and Transformation.

I’ve been stupid busy lately. Some of it is valid and some of it isn’t. I’ve been slammed with changes at work, changes that affect my everyday routine. My habits. So, the changes haven’t exactly been met with open arms yet. But my invalid busyness is due to my increased procrastination in conjunction with my increased responsibilities. In sum, the more work Nina gets, the less Nina does. I know, Nina makes no sense.

I have been encouraged by a strange source: the blogging community. There are a handful of blogs I suscribe to and I read my feeds during my downtime at work. And I noticed a trend among all my fellow bloggers - that we all have dreams, goals to achieve but that there is conflict to overcome. Okay, okay, so that is a trend with every human being, but it has been encouraging to read these thoughts and know that I’m not alone in my discontentment.

My discontentment has been at an all-time high (or close), mainly because I feel like I am on the verge of something great, but I’m holding back. It’s like life is on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t quite get there. So to resolve this friction, I’ve given myself more distractions, unnecessary distractions. And yes, nothing has been resolved. There is definitely a monkey on my back.

But I read this on Dan Kimball’s blog as he speaks about his church’s mission statement:

We start it with “asking God to transform us” as it needs to be God not human effort when we are serving on the mission and our sinful nature would likely make us more self-centered than others-centered - so it must be the Spirit of God changing us as we serve Him.

And I haven’t been able to forget it. Combined with guest speaker Eric Mason’s message a few weeks back on BROKENNESS and you’ve got me not only thinking about where God wants to take me, but also what God is trying to teach me RIGHT NOW.

Where am I right now? Discontent, procrastinating, self-loathing, stressed, insecure, hopeful, dreaming.

What does God want me to learn right now? I thought maybe He’d want to increase my patience, but in all my stale waiting, I think He is also reminding me that I need to at least get off my keyster. But maybe, just maybe, He doesn’t want me to get up to do, do, do. Maybe, just maybe, He’s reminding me that before I do, I should pray. And not just pray my usual prayer that He’ll give me strength for whatever I do, but to actually pray that He guides what I do. Pray for transformation. Because I can’t change the world and I can’t change myself.

Sufferings and infections.

People that saw me today had the same general reaction. “Oh my gosh, is that contagious?!” with a subconscious step back. Oh, and complete with a look of total disgust, unhidden, on their faces. It was fantastic.

Last Tuesday was a really great day, mainly because I finally got to see Jimmy Eat World live in an intimate, acoustic setting with a good friend after some good pizza. I had a grin on my face the whole night. Except there was a scrape on my arm that itched like a mofo. I commented about it several times to my friend, but just thinking my skin was acting dumb like it sometimes does.

The next day was worse. And then Thursday it became very apparent that my skin was not just acting dumb, but it was severely pissed off. The scratch on my arm had somehow spread to my other arm and then started to make its way to my legs. The bumps were almost like pimples, itchy, itchy pimples.

Cut to the chase, I was going out of town for work on Friday and I needed to find out if it was contagious (I really thought I had chicken pox). Two hours and $150 later, the doctor took one glance at me and said, “That is poison ivy.”

Two weeks beforehand, I had helped out at Transform, my church’s local summer missions project in inner city Dallas. I had the privilege of helping a sweet old lady named Irene clean up her backyard. I remember three things she said:

- “I don’t like chicken. I like pork chops.”

- “I wonder if there is still weed out here.” (no, she was not referring to the weeds that had overcome her backyard)

- “Watch out for poison ivy.”

I had never seen poison ivy before, but didn’t really see any “leaves of three.” So I didn’t let anything be. Oops.

This could not have happened at a better time. I set out for Asia next week for a short-term mission trip and had been warned about spiritual warfare. I don’t doubt this is part of some crazy plan to shape up and talk to the Lord more. Also, when my team saw my afflictions today, one team member smiled and said, “Praise God! Suffering in the Lord’s name!” I smiled because this very thought is only thing that’s keeping me from breaking down and taking Benedryl to sleep the week away, in hopes to awake with no more blisters on my skin.

Also, after the meeting, I went to church in which Matt Chandler spoke on I Peter 5:6-10.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Chandler reminded us that although some may build their house on foundation of sand and others rock, both will hit by the storm. Suffering is undeniable and usually necessary - to remind us that we are small and helpless, to humble us, and so that God, at the proper time, will exalt us.

So here I am, feeling very unprepared for this trip, insufficient, and itchy, but what better place to be than at the feet of Jesus, humbled, weak, and thankful?

p.s. - I almost took a picture of the massive blisters on my arm, but decided it was not for the faint of heart. Or for anyone else.