Road Trip 2012 Summary Part 1

Now that things have settled down after being on the road for almost a month, I think I'm ready to give this blog thing a shot again.

I started my long trek a few weeks back and my first stop was Beaver Falls (The Falls is what I like to refer it as). The Falls has a special place in my heart because I gained a new appreciation for education and learning there. I was challenged by professors in the classroom and challenged in my work in higher education by colleagues and students.

My stop to the Falls was kind of a last minute addition, but the main purpose was to see one my best friends from Grad School Ryan get married. I don't think I would have survived my first year of Grad School without Ryan. We use to go into Pittsburgh, smoke cigars and have great conversations. I'm so excited for him and Missy as they start their new life together. Blessings to you guys!



During my visit, I got to catch up with old friends and see many people that I love and care for, go to a Pirates Game, grab a meal at Mario's, Yama, Kelly's and the Backdoor (All must haves in the Beaver Cahntwy). It was a great start to the road trip.

From the Falls I headed down to North Carolina. This was the one part of the trip where I had a few friends with me in the car, Jessie and Nolan. The drive down to Raleigh was one of my many favorite parts of the trip because I got to catch up with both of them and talk about Higher Ed (Nol is in grad school at NC State and working as an RD).

I arrived at Duke and jumped head first into one of the most intense conferences I've ever been to. I'm pretty introverted and it is very taxing for me to meet new people. I knew no one at this conference and the days were long but very rich. Each day was filled with deep discussions about the broken world and how we were trying to fix it through our different callings of church planting, non-profit, NGO's, higher education the list could go on.

Shown here are a couple of sweet people I got to meet at this conference. Robyn is a public speaker and runs her own company on Racial Reconciliation and Diversity. Jae runs a Reconciliation organization in Korea and runs workshops throughout Asia. We all connected because we were all Korean, but had totally different backgrounds and upbringings. I am Korean but was born and raised in the US. Robyn was born in Korea but was adopted by Dutch-Americans in Michigan, Jae was born and raised in Korea. It reminded us about how we can't just brush a stroke of stereotypes when coming across a person. We all have very unique individual stories in which God is at the foundation.


One of the biggest things I took away from the Duke conference was that we are called to reconcile everyday. No matter what you do for work or what situation you're in, the act of love and reconciliation is needed in everything, EVERYTHING.

From North Carolina I headed up to Charlottesville, Virginia (The Ville). I always love going to the Ville because there are SO many people that I love there. I stayed at my old mentor's house which is one of my favorite places to stay in the world. They live on Lake Monticello and have a loft that has a beautiful view of the lake. In the morning the sun shines through the windows, and you wake up to a view of the fog as it rolls off the water (ahhhhh). Not to mention Greg and Nance are some of the most hospitable people ever. In the Ville I got to have several meals with awesome friends at The Continental Divide and Bel-Air Market and attend church at Trinity Pres.

Check out Greg's classic 55 Ford F-150. Wow....


The Ville was a place of tremendous growth for me. I learned about the concept of time, and how it is not mine, but ultimately time is God's and we should use each moment to seek to glorify him. The Ville was also the place were I realized my calling and vocation in higher education.


Wow this post is long...I will continue my 2nd part of the journey in another entry.

Road Trip 2012

Yes,
surprise surprise. I have not blogged in months. I beg for forgiveness from the 2 people that read this blog every 9 months. Tomorrow I'm headed for another Road Trip adventure as I head to Beaver Falls to catch up with some friends and attend a wedding. From there I will head down to Duke University for a Racial Reconciliation Conference hosted by the Divinity School (STOKED about this!). After that I will have a short trip to C-Ville and then head to Taylor University for ACSD which I have not attended in about 5 years. It should be an amazing trip of growth, relaxation, mental convictions and lots of learning. Looking forward to it and ready to kick off the summer in style. Hopefully I'll blog along the way.

Convictions

I realize I'm not a regular blogger. I was not aware that in order to be a good blogger you need to blog at least once a day. The more regular your posts are, the more likely people will repeatedly come back to your blog. Nevertheless I don't think I'm going to start blogging everyday, let alone once a week.

I began to ask myself why not? Is it because I'd have to dig deeper and analyze and expose more of myself in order to stay relevant? Is it because I'm apathetic in a lot of ways in my life when it comes to my faith, my job, and my discipline? Is it because I think I'm too good or too busy for it? The answer is yes to all of the above.

The fear to dig deeper within because I'm afraid of what I will find. A sense that I cannot handle anything else at this point. No more disappointment, no more guilt, no more shame, I am done with all of those things. But let's be honest. Can you really escape your inner-self and the core that makes you? Their have been and still are temporary remedies for people; drugs, alcohol, sex etc. or for us "Christians" maybe it is staying too busy and overcommitment so you don't have to think about things, or fully delving into your work because society approves of such an obsession. Whatever it is, it all catches up with you eventually. It reminds me of the Avett Brothers song "The Weight of Lies"

The weight of lies will bring you down
And follow you to every town
Cause nothing happens here that doesn’t happen there
So when you run make sure you run
To something and not away from
Cause lies don’t need an aeroplane to chase you anywhere

But the good news, is that no matter what is eating at you. There is always the solid foundation of God. The good news of the gospel, and nothing like a little perspective that will help you realize how amazingly blessed you are. The song that comes to mind in order to counter "The Weight of Lies" is the song "In Christ Alone"

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

Dig Deeper, reach into the bottom of your soul and find the dark muck, and mud. The more you reveal the more God will heal with his grace and love.

We're constantly changing

So it's typical for me, not to be able to fall asleep at night. Last night was no exception, so I came across this article.. by Tim Keller.

It made me think, I always hear the saying, "the person I married x amount of years ago isn't the same person I'm married to today".

Can you imagine if you were exactly the same as you were 10, 11, or 12 years ago? I would be 17 years old and a Senior in High School. At that point my understanding of life was so narrow. I could only think about girls (I guess that hasn't changed...ha), being an awesome football player (I can now say that I was NOT an awesome football player) and how to be cool (I definitely was not, and I cringe at the thought of seeing myself trying to act like I was).

Even looking back 5 or 6 years ago I was in the Trinity Fellows Program, trying to figure out "what I wanted to do with my life" and still trying to understand the grace of God.

The old adage with age comes wisdom is so true.Each year of your life is a notch that God marks in your life.
-The moments of enlightenment when everything makes sense in the world, and the passions of your heart meet with the hurts of the world.
-The loss of a loved one and the pain that it brings, but the gratefulness that you got to experience life with them.
-The scars of a relationship that ended poorly, a reminder that God is the ultimate love, and that he will always be there.
-The laughter with friends, a moment in which you can experience a small sliver of what heaven is like, living in constant joy, in community with loved ones.

Check out these trees. Nature is always a good reminder of how God works, and how he has designed things. Trees are not meant to stay the same and remain little saplings. They also don't turn into huge beautiful trees over night. It takes years and years to grow. Deep roots and a great foundation to persevere through harsh winters storms, and dry seasons....to eventually grow into something as beautiful as


this

Finals Week

It is Finals week here at Gordon and I can't help but remember how hard this week was as a student. I procrastinate with the best of them and Finals always hits you like a blitzing linebacker from the blindside. It's virtually impossible to recover from a semester of slacking, but there I was at the end of every semester trying to cram a semesters worth of reading in one day. My prayers go out to all you students this week. College is fun and there is lots of freedom, but with that freedom comes the responsibility to be academically faithful, which is very difficult. Great is thy Faithfulness oh God. No matter what we are going through or what our circumstances may be, you will be there no matter what. Even if it means studying your butt off to pass a statistics exam in order to graduate (wow that was a stressful one).

Homemade General Tso's Chicken Stir Fry

So I just realized that I have never posted a recipe and cooking has become a new passion of mine. I've found myself watching food network and just creating things with random leftover's and vegetables over the last couple of weeks and being able to create some pretty good dishes so here we go. I will post my first recipe that I made up.

Ingredients
4 pieces Fried Chicken (You can get some fried chicken from your local grocery store, if it is cold/ leftover from the day before that is fine)
Half a White Onion
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
Minced Garlic
Korean Red Pepper Paste (This is probably the most difficult ingredient to get, but can used in a variety of dishes. You can pick this up at any Asian Super Market)
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Directions:
Pull chicken from the bones and set aside in a bowl.
Rough Chop Half an Onion, Red and Yellow Bell Peppers.
Add Onions, Peppers and 2 tblspoons of minced garlic
Saute all veggies in a fry-pan with 2 tblspoons of Olive Oil for 10 minutes on high heat.
Add Salt and Pepper to taste

Add chicken and 1 tblspoon of Red Pepper Paste, continue to saute for 5-8 minutes.

This is a very simple dish that fits perfectly with a side of rice.

My thoughts on Joe Paterno and PSU

I usually don't write about topics in the news and try to keep my blog pretty personal, but I just can't resist writing about the things happening at Penn State and Coach Joe Paterno. The reasons for this is that it has to do with several things I am passionate about, coaching, football and higher education. So in essence it is a personal blog.

Several years back I got to experience a football game at Penn State. It's almost a surreal experience. 100,000 plus people come from what seems like the middle of no where to cheer on their beloved team. The standard on the field and the level of expectation for Penn State is and always has been perfection. This all stems from their great coach Joe Paterno. He has coached there for 46 years, starting as an assistant and making his way up to be the head coach. He has won 2 National Championships and is the most winning-est coach in College Football history. In short he is a football god. What people admire about Joe Pa the most is that he is a standup guy and has done everything by the book.

I believe this is the reason why this story has caused so much controversy. Years and years of work and accomplishments and accolades have been crushed and tarnished by a scandal that has rocked everyone to the core. Joe Pa was not the person who ultimately did the supposed perverted unforgivable acts that Coach Sandusky did, but Paterno was Sandusky's former superior (At the time Sandusky had been retired but still was a part of the program). Allegedly Sandusky was seen molesting a child in the locker room by a Graduate Assistant. This was then reported to Paterno who then reported it the Athletic Director. Paterno legally did what he was suppose to do, but in the minds of many he did not do enough. Did Joe Pa enable Sandusky to continue what he was doing? Time will tell.

As for the college administrators, why did they not follow through with the accusations of such a serious offense? Did the success of a football program cause the administration to turn a blind eye to what Sandusky was doing?

For Paterno, maybe there was a certain loyalty and friendship that he wanted to protect Sandusky, we can never know. I keep on trying to put myself in Joe Paterno's shoes in that situation. As a Head Coach I would bring in other coaches who I believed in and trusted to instill the values and philosophies I had. I then hear about serious allegations about one of my coaches, what would I do? I would definitely confront him, which would be awful and awkward, and then report it to the my superiors. The next steps are the point of contention. Would I wait for my superiors to make a decision? Would I take matters into my own hand and cut ties with my colleague and friend? I have no idea...it's like a horrible nightmare that you just want to go away.

It seems as though everyone passed the buck up and didn't want to take a stand, because the accusations were so appalling and so shocking on top of the pressure of what it would do to a very successful football program, everyone kept quiet. This is why the current administration and Joe Paterno are paying the price now for their lack of action. If they weren't forced to step down, it would send a message that football rules, that Joe Paterno could call his own shots and that he could tell the Board of Trustees what they should do.

As a person who loves football, that has dedicated many hours to the game as a player, coach and fan this is a very sad day. I am grateful for what Joe Paterno has done for the game of football and very dissapointed that one of the greatest coaches in history had to go out like this.

As a person who is a college administrator, I have to say, Football is just a game. Yes, it can bring Universities and schools many accolades, money, and prestige, but it is a game. It is a part of education, it is NOT above it.