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JulioTheSwede
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Name: JulioTheSwede
Birthday: 10/27/1979
Gender: Male
Interests: This is my personal journal, logging the random thoughts that go on throughout the course of life. Most of these thoughts are personal in nature, but I have made them public as a way for others to get to know what I'm going through.
Message: message me
Member Since:
11/13/2004
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| A Sense of CommunityOK, it's been six months since I've posted... and a lot of things have happened in the meantime. Pastor Peter has gone to Seattle to be with Karen. A few other church friends have left to find other places. I've been to a few weddings. I'm well into my new project at work. I've stressed out, and completed my two weeks doings solar car stuff. What a whirlwind!
Yet, when I think about all the things that happened since the last time I posted, I am thankful for the community that I've been a part of for the last 12 years of my life. I was looking back at Chanlee's Flickr at pictures taken at my housewarming. It was great to see how we all came together as a family... I feel so honored to have so many people come to my place. I remember how we had four or five people in my (very small) kitchen, cooking dinner together. I remember the various games we played (or attempted to play, in the case of Munchkin). I remember how we could get such a wide range of experience (hate to say "age"), and come together just to have fun. There's been so much focus on generational ministries, but yet we were able to come together across generations and just have a good time together.
I look back at our very impromptu Fourth of July celebration. It was weird at first for me, since I usually spend time with my family, or with some friends setting off fireworks. But I enjoyed just having a group of friends come over for dinner and games. And now that so many things have changed in our church, we as a Sonai fellowship have grown closer together. I love that we are all seeking to be a closer community, even though we all live so far away from each other.
And there's Genesis... a fellowship that I feel like I'm part of, rather than helping out in. It was fun having our VBS Pool Party / Jonathan's Birthday Party, and just being able to hang out and play together. I have to admit that I was initially hesitant, since I had plans with my high school friends to go to Bolsa Chica Beach. But I really had a fun time. It was great to spend some time with Chris and Frank. While I didn't really get to chat with them, we had lots of fun in the pool together. I also enjoyed the time with Tiffany, just playing with the digital SLR camera.
Just thinking back on all these events (and more), I consider myself lucky to be in the midst of such a great community. No matter what happens, no matter what we go through, I know I can count on this community to love/care for one another, pray for one another's needs, and have fun together. I long and pray that whereever we may go, whatever may happen, that we remain close, and we encourage one another to continue to grow in the Lord.
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| SacrificeToday, in Sunday School, we talked about methods of worship, and looked at Abraham's example of his willingness to sacrifice Isaac as burnt offering. Genesis 22:5 says: "Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.'" We then discussed about different examples of what we could sacrifice for God.
This was very difficult for me. I know I do a lot of things that many might consider as sacrifice. I sacrifice my time to help others out with fixing computers, or just helping out take care of things. I sacrifice my sleep by waking up early on Saturdays to listen and pray for those in the LiT group. But yet, is this sacrifice for God?
I have this dilemma about serving people. I always question whether my service is for me, for others, or for God. Sure, God tells us to serve one another, just as Jesus served us while He was on Earth. But the issue is a matter of motivation... why do I serve? When I serve others, I typically have an innate desire for affirmation and appreciation. I feel this is my selfishness coming out -- that I need people to need me. I also feel that is is my self-centeredness -- that I'm the only one uniquely qualified to do what I'm doing. Both of these things are not healthy... my selfishness creates a dependency on others, rather than a dependency on God. My self-centeredness makes me prideful, and it prevents others who are talented/gifted in that area from testing whether they want to serve in that way.
The main question is... how do I solve this? Whenever I serve, I want feedback from others to gauge whether I did a good job. If I get no feedback (either positive or negative), I start questioning whether what I did was worth it. There's only a limited amount of time in the day, and if I'm spending time on service, I want to make sure I'm making a difference in God's Kingdom. Some may say, just ask God about it... get feedback from Him. And yet, I have a difficult time hearing what God is trying to tell me. This expands into another long dissertation, so I'll save that for later.
Getting back to sacrifice... I have to ask myself: "Do I really sacrifice anything for God?" I have to admit that I don't. So, the question that remains is, what can I sacrifice for God? How do I give of myself such that I can give God the attention, affection, and abilities He rightfully deserves? What can I sacrifice so that His Kingdom will grow?
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| Honda Choco Egg Car
OK, so this is not the post you're waiting for... I'll get to that when I have more time to recap the past hectic three weeks. But, for your amusement... a Honda Choco Egg Car! If you're trying to figure out what it is... it's exactly that.
My sister came back and gave each of us one. It's a chocolate egg that contains a small capsule, that contains pieces of a Honda car. They have 15 different cars, and it's random as to what you'd get. (I wanted the NSX... but didn't get it.) Instead, I got a 2003 Honda Odyssey. Quite amusing. The model, when fully assembled, is almost the size of my thumb. It has free-spinning wheels, so you can roll it across a table.
Anyway, for more information, go here: http://www.87thscale.info/furuta.htm
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| Work Mode: OnI started my new project yesterday, after wrapping up my old project before the break. I think I took advantage of the break this year, much more than any other year. During the past week and a half, I:
- went shopping for my remaining Christmas gifts
- played a LOT of Settlers of Catan
- spent my Christmas with family, including my cousins (who were spending their first Christmas in the United States)
- went to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks with Peter and Karen
- played an enjoyable game of Capture the Flag in Call of Duty
- fixed the gap in my teeth that was there since July
- spent all night at church on Friday, playing ping pong, Settlers of Catan, talking, watching talent show performances, reminiscing through a slide show
- ate brunch with my brother and dad at Flappy Jacks
- played poker, Uno, and other card games before New Year's with my high school friends
- toasted the new year with champagne (and washed it down with apple cider)
- played racquetball (and finally won my first game)
- watched King Kong
- got very little sleep
And now I returned to work. I even got up at 3:40am yesterday because my brother's flight got cancelled and I had to take him to LAX for his 6:00am flight (which turned out to be 6:45am). I went in and checked some email at my old office, then showed up at my new office around 6:00am. At 11:30, my new Software Program Manager comes in and tells me he doesn't have the budget to hire me (even though it was previously arranged). So I lasted in my new project for all of 6 hours.
Such chaos is what I return to at work. My old project took me back temporarily, but I'm still trying to figure out what to do. There's a few job openings, one doing some minor software development in my current project, or another doing some code development (but not design, which was what I wanted to do). We'll see what happens.
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| A Win Streak Ends... A New BeginningUSC lost to Texas 41-38. It was a good game. When you witness something some close, something going so well... and yet not quite enough, you wonder: What If? What if they had called Vince Young down before the lateral in the second quarter? Would USC have stopped them? What about the Texas interception that was called incomplete by the refs? What if USC had gotten a first down on the final drive? What if, what if, what if...
Overall, I have to congratulate Texas on a great game. It was a nail-biter throughout, and it shows how well Vince Young played for Texas. USC had a great run, but it had to end at some point. I'm sure Pete Carroll will pick the team up from the loss and keep building for the future.
The only downside to all this... I'm going to hear it from so many people. Here comes the comments...
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