free day.

Picture from my phone;

so that's why it's...different.

Last day off before the students come

so that automatically = beach.

duh.

Also, for Dave:

tell me i look pritty.

school starts:

Staff training is over;

so now the school begins..
Monday.
Ahh!

Seems like it's come so fast but hopefully I'll feel more prepared when they all get here.

For we too are his offspring.

-Aratus.

la playa.

We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.

- C.S. Lewis 

settled in manoa.

view of the Manoa Valley from the base.

one of the books I'll be teaching...

just getting a head start.

a pretty spot on the U of H campus.

..and an aerial view of my room in Memph whilst packing :)

Perhaps I've become an easy mark for a much larger con: a shell game that robs my life away from me, one moment at a time. "If only I had that job, that house, that girlfriend, that car." I hunt down my fantasies ignoring the reality around me. The people around me who truly care for me, the true needs of those who depend on me; I cast these realities aside for the phantoms that lie just out of reach. Ignoring that which is in my pursuit for that which is not. Chasing ghosts. It's a shell game, a sleight of hand.

- jon foreman.

longing/contentment.

Sometimes I wonder,

in a society that jumps from partner to partner in the smallest amount of time,

if people realize the hunger in them.

We have every means available to ignore any longing within us,

and then it becomes to hard to hear.

If we were more careful with these things,

if we understood that there will always be something within us that feels like it's missing

then maybe we could pass up all the unnecessary choices made out of hopelessness.

For me,

my Creator is the only one that can fill that longing or that sense that I'm missing something.

I start to feel like everything better is somewhere else when I'm not close to Him.

Nothing is ever enough.

And even when I'm happy, it finds its way in.

And its the silliest thing that I've realized I just can't control.

What I can control, however, is how I react to this feeling.

I can retreat in, and start to believe that I'm completely alone 

and that there's no outlet for my longing.

Or I can turn to Him,

let Him show me things that make me feel again.

It's such an odd thing,

but when I do this I re-remember things that I loved and gave me a sense of peace.

Painting

Piano

Writing

Poetry

Sketching

Photography

Listening to quiet music

Laying on the roof

Soaking in the sun

And just being quiet, I guess.

It just always takes Him reminding me of these things

..these things that I can't explain 

or that I know aren't perfect and never will be..

but that seem to release something in me

making me feel like myself again.

If other people could realize this about themselves

then maybe we'd have less abandoned families,

less broken relationships,

and less dissatisfaction with our lives.

It's a tall order,

but I think people need to realize these things first

before rash decisions are made that ruin lives

dreaming.

Dreams have a funny way of getting to your head.

Well that's where they begin of course, but also afterwards...
trying to figure out if they have any particular  meaning.

I'd never base a decision on a dream,

but sometimes they seem like warnings

or lessons that we'll need to remember for a later problem.

So I guess most of the time they make sense after something's happened.

Better store 'em up.

hmmph.

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch

happy valentine's.

{ via. }

{ via. }

hello again, hawaii.

Well it's been a while since I've really updated on here; 

so I'm sorry if anyone was checking for such.

But I now have news to report so, here it goes:

I will be returning to Hawaii this April to help staff a School of Biblical Studies.

I loved my SBS that I did in '08-'09 (although extremely tough),

and now I've decided to help out with this particular school.

One of my fellow students is leading this school and she's changing things up a bit.

It's basically the same school but she's infused minor things here and there that I'm excited to be a part of.

I'll be in Honolulu (O'ahu) beginning the middle of March,

and then we fly to Kona (Hawai'i, the big island) in August.

After a little break in December I have the opportunity to go on outreach to Japan.

At this point I'm planning on going through with it if funds allow...

If anyone would like to help me in my endeavor to teach the Inductive Bible Study method

to the people of Japan (not sure where yet), then let me know.

Anything would be appreciated. :)

I will be leading a small group, one-on-ones and just be there when the students need me.

I'll also be grading their work and hopefully encouraging them to keep at it.

I have to teach one book of the New Testament, not sure which one yet, 

but I'll definitely have to do a lot of preparation for that!

So, I'm quite excited to be back with YWAM

and definitely in a new role this time.

Let me know if you want to visit,

I may be able to work something out!

can't make you love me.

kitty

one thing I love:

closing the door
only to hear purring
and a little white paw slip under the door
then the other
swatting back and forth
wanting me to feed him
again..

oh kitties..

joy.

background on my computer..

on and off for a year or so.

can't seem to stop appreciating it.

twitter

precisely!