Friday, October 30, 2009

Fútbol

Yesterday I played soccer for the first time in South America. Really, it´s kind of crazy that I haven´t played yet, given how big it is here. I was invited by a Minnesotan girl that I know, and we ended up playing with a mix of gringos and Chileans. In fact, I was one of four Minnesotans playing! It´s always fun to be able to flaunt my MN pride just a bit. I had a lot of fun for several reasons. First, it was good to get out and play a real sport, something I haven´t really done here yet. Also, inexperienced as I am, I was able to score a goal (probably more correctly an assist). That was pretty fun, and definitely unexpected. I would say it was lucky, but as a famous person recently said, "Luckily, we don´t believe in luck." So it must have been pure skill. More importantly than all that, though, playing soccer is a chance to spend time with people in a real-life (i.e. not in class or some other highly structured situation).

I think this is often a weak point in who I am. Here´s what Jesus said: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39, ESV). Most Christians know this, but I don´t know how many consistently practice it. First off, God should consume us. In a world where idols abound, God should be our supreme passion. We can´t stop there, though--God created us for relationship, not only with Him, but also with others. Just as we should be loving God with all of our heart, we should be pouring out love into our fellow man all the time. This is hard to do. Often it´s uncomfortable to talk to people we don´t know, to open up to people in real friendship, to include others in parts of our lives that would be easier to just do ourselves. There´s a lot of this I´m not used to. Honestly, sometimes I wonder what it practically looks like to love one´s neighbor as oneself. But from the little of it that I´ve done, I know it´s a beautiful thing, and I want that kind of love to absolutely saturate my life.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Up and Up


lyrics to a great song that's encouraged me today:
Yesterday
Is not quite what it could've been
As were most of all the days before
But I swear today
With every breath I'm breathing in
I'll be trying to make it so much more
Cause it seems I get so hung up on
The history of what's gone wrong
And the hope of a new day
Is sometimes hard to see
But I'm finally catching onto it
Yeah the past is just a conduit
And the light there at the end is where I'll be
'Cause I'm on the up and up
I'm on the up and up
And I haven't given up
Given up on what I know I'm capable of
And I'm on the up and up
Yeah there's nothing left to prove
'Cause I'm just trying to be a better version of me for you
A better version of me for you
To be prosperous
Would not require much of me
You see contentment is the one thing it entails
To be content with where I am
And getting where I need to be
I'm moving past the past where I have failed
But I'm finally catching onto it
Yeah the past is just a conduit
And the light there at the end is where I'll be

'Cause I'm on the up and up
I'm on the up and up
And I haven't given up
Given up on what I know I'm capable of
And I'm on the up and up
Yeah there's nothing left to prove
'Cause I'm just trying to be a better version of me for you
A better version of me for you
You never cease to supply
me with what I need for a good life
So when I'm down
I'll hold my head up high
'Cause you're the reason why
I'm on the up and up

Monday, October 19, 2009

It is more blessed to give than to receive





Today was quite an enjoyable day. After church, I enjoyed an absolutely delectable cook-out with my family here--choripan (grilled sausage eaten in tasty bread), pork, and beef. Chips and peanuts were available too, and for just about everything there was the scrumptious, spicy pebre sauce. Several delicious varieties of salad completed the meal. Conversation was animated, and we all amused ourselves with the wind-up running mice that were meant to be toys for the baby granddaughter who was there. In short, the simple joys of life.

This evening I was able to go out bowling with some of my church friends as well (hence the bowling pictures). Bowling was definitely a blast, but my favorite moment of the day came before that. Since I was getting dropped off at the mall early, I brought juggling balls to keep myself occupied for an hour. I heard a lot of little kids say, "¡Mira!" One little boy came up to me with $2000 (that´s Chilean pesos in case you were worried), or about $4 US, which I think his parents had given him. It was supposed to be a donation to my fund, I guess. I felt kind of bad getting so much money from a cute little 6-year old, so I asked him if he knew how to do it. Since he didn´t, I told him I´d teach him something before he gave me the money. We started with one ball, and moved to two. He was picking it up really well for his age. It sounded like he didn´t really have good juggling balls to practice with at home, so I decided to give him three of mine. I checked with the parents as I left too, just to make sure they were cool with it. So in the end, I guess I earned $4 - 3($6) = -$14 or so, as well as now only having 4 juggling balls to my name. But that doesn't matter. I think I may have made a little kid's day, and I know that he made mine.
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Saturday, October 17, 2009

for the facebookless

here is a link to my most recent photo album on facebook. it's just my friends and me enjoying ourselves as we watch the Chilean fútbol team classify for the World Cup 2010:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069291&id=63804488&l=4c51740afa

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

forgetfulness is bliss?

As I wait for my next and final class, I have decided to do something more productive than browse facebook for 20 minutes, namely write this post. Today in my "Prose of Borges" class, we discussed a short story (which somewhat ironically I have not yet read) in which the protagonist has an infinitely good memory--he remembers everything he has ever experienced, in absolute detail. Because of this, to recall a day of his life, he needs another day--24 hours to remember in exquisite detail a previous 24 hours that he has lived. In part, Borges was poking fun at or criticizing the authors of the Realist school who attempted to reproduce reality as accurately as possible, sometimes spending 30 pages on the description of a room.

However, the philosophical questions raised by this story are quite interesting. First of all, we talked of how in the act of remembering, one is required to forget and to choose. When you tell a story of something that happened to you, no one would want to hear every detail, even if you were able to remember everything. Instead, you must actively "forget" the parts that aren´t relevant to what you´re telling. Conversely, you choose what you deem relevant, and that´s what you include. We talked too about those with an overactive memory, who have to look for a way to block memories from their mind so that they´re not overwhelmed.

Along those lines, I thought of my experience with memory. There are some things I remember really well. Don´t ask me what those things are, I just know they exist (if I thought hard enough, I´m sure I would remember. haha). There are many things, though, that slip my mind. Although sometimes this is frustrating, I think in reality those with a not-so-sharp memory have things easier. They say "ignorance is bliss"--I think one could equivalently say "forgetfulness is bliss." Those who remember most of their lives in great detail have a lot to deal with. I think there´s a cloud in the silver lining of good memory, so to speak.

On another note, forgetfulness can´t be all bad if it´s what an omniscient God chooses for Himself. He will not remember our sins or iniquities anymore, if we are His. That´s a forgetfulness that I´m thankful for.

Monday, October 12, 2009

I get down

I have so many things I want to write about, but I have to take at least a few minutes before getting back to the math to remark on something God's been really been bringing up a lot lately--humility. I mean, by now I've got to be the most humble man alive.
First of all, there are a lot of ways that I'm reminded of how faulty and weak I am. I've made decisions I'm not proud of. I forget important things. I'm a math major, and yet I can't seem to take a math class where I'm not at the brink of failure. Of course, not all of my life is in utter disrepair. I'm thankful to be learning a lot about how to communicate in another culture and language, and I probably have more dreams than ever before. But in the end, I'm nothing in myself.
Sometimes I look at my failures and start to despair. I'm used to being expected to perform well, to being known for excellence in one way or another. I guess that's what happens when you go to a "first-tier" university, whatever that means (a university where everyone is expected to be a study-holic and where everyone has either a superiority or an inferiority complex? hmmm). Sometimes I forget that it doesn't matter whether I do well or fail, in the grand scheme of things. Don't get me wrong here. I'm a lover of excellence; I think that's a quality that I could never lose, even if I wanted to. I believe God made people in His image, and He made us for a life to be lived to the absolute fullest and best that we can possibly manage. On the other hand, God is Who matters. Whether I get an A in Abstract Algebra or whether I fail out of college and end up working driving trucks of "very gross weight" for Biff's, God is still God, He is still on his throne, and He is still the one who deserves all the glory. When I freak out about the fact that my performance is subpar according to my standards or those of others, I'm losing sight of the bigness of God.
Pastor Samuel, the guy who hosted me in his home and acted as my personal guide when I visited Puerto Montt last weekend, started talking about humility when we were sitting together in the car. "Humility is one of the most important qualities in life. But man, how hard it is to humble yourself before others, especially when you don't think you're in the wrong!" He talked about the fact that almost all church splits are over tonterías--they are completely avoidable and generally brought about by differing opinions and rampant gossip, rather than a desire to truly follow God's will. Along with humility goes obedience. As he put it, "when people come to me for counseling, they often say, 'Well, I think...' And I say, 'That's the problem. You don't need to think here, you need to obey.'" He clarified that there's certainly nothing wrong with thinking--God made us to do that. But when our human thoughts are contrary to God's, well, guess who's right? We'll see if you can figure out the answer.
Another curious thing he said was this: "After all these years of being a pastor, I'm convinced that people aren't happy because they don't want to be. People get into all sorts of problems--simply because they say things they don't have to say, they do things they don't have to do." I think this too is related to humility. Wanting vengeance, wanting to have always one's one way, having to get involved in everything--these qualities that cause so much trouble are antithetical to humility. Humility says, "God is right, others are more important than I am, and I want to live in peace with both God and others." I'm highly plagiarizing the Bible in all of these ideas. I highly recommend that you reference that book yourself... it's pretty amazing :)
Speaking of getting down, I think there's an Audio Adrenaline song I have to go listen to. Chao!

Friday, October 9, 2009

this post is a lame copout

but at least you can view my newest facebook photo album even if you don't have a facebook account:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068885&id=63804488&l=00b4d7cd92