God's little surprises

That's little Jackson Beach. He's the son of my friends Andrew and Sarah. He was just one of the little bright moments I had this past weekend. I traveled to Memphis this past weekend to see Andrew and Sarah and their son Jackson. The reasons were sevenfold for visiting.
1. I lost a bet and owed Andrew a rack of ribs because UCLA lost to Memphis in the Final Four.
2. I wanted to meet Jackson.
3. I wanted to catch up with Andrew and Sarah it has been ages since I have seen them.

It's so amazing how all my different experiences intertwine and somehow all of my different Christian circles collided in Memphis this weekend.
I was there to visit and Andrew's sister and fiance Charles were in town as well. It turned out they were there for a wedding for someone in their Fellows class so I got to see a bunch of old friends.

I'll try to explain the tangled web...

I went to college with Andrew and we also worked at camp together at Summer's Best 2 Weeks. He met Sarah there and eventually they got married. I then did the Fellows program in Charlottesville, Virginia, which Andrew's sister Katie and now fiance Charles did as well. My friend Cambria from college also did the Fellows program with Katie and Charles. Cambria now lives in New Orleans with Mary who also did the fellows program. Mary also worked at camp for a year.

Still with me? It's still not over. On Sunday I went to church with Andrew at First Evangelical where he works as the Junior High Youth Pastor. I was getting introduced to the head pastor and I was explaining what I was doing when someone overheard me say Covenant College. It just so happens that my Vice President who served on Senate this year Christian, goes to First Evan and his mother recognized me and came up to me.

So in less then 72 hours I had met people from or somehow related to Gordon College, Summer's Best 2 Week, the Trinity Fellows Program, and Covenant College.


Ok, I'm done for now. I'm leaving on Friday for my road trip and I don't know if I will be studious enough to write on the road...we'll see.

Congrats Class of 2008

As my second academic year comes to a close at Covenant, I can't help but reflect back. It's been a really good 2 years, that has gone very quickly. I remember moving from Charlottesville from a great townhouse with awesome friends and leaving a community that I felt so a part of. I jumped right into Orientation Team training and felt very welcomed by the students and staff.
This past Friday, I got to pray for the Seniors at their banquet. I was given a chance to thank many of the Seniors for letting me be a part of their lives, through working with them on Senate, Orientation, playing intramural sports with them and also serving on two great mission trips.
I feel like every year it gets harder and harder to say "goodbye" to the graduating class. Last year was such a whirlwind year and really a short 9 months(sometimes it wasn't short at all) before I saw the Class of 2007 walk across the stage as they received their diplomas. I have gotten 2 great years with this years class and honestly I felt like a proud father or maybe more like a proud older brother seeing his little brother/sister graduate. I have had so many great experiences with a lot of these guys that its hard not to feel attached to them in some sense.
Isn't it kind of odd that a college administrator is really close with students? Isn't it suppose to be the opposite? Aren't administrators suppose to be "Debbie downers" or the people that "bust the party"? Thankfully for me, my job doesn't require me to be a disciplinarian, most of the time anyways. Has it been a cakewalk these past 2 years? No, definitely not. I have definitely had moments where I have felt like a disappointed father, a grieving friend, and frustrated beyond all comprehension. But all in all I don't think I am thankful enough for my job. There are definitely moments when I think to myself "wow, I'm getting paid for this".
So with all of that being said, Class of 2008 you have been great and I will miss you. God bless you and good luck with what God has in store for you.

Intrigued by others, motivated by who knows what?

I caught myself constantly reading my friends blogs and their different experiences in foreign countries on semester abroad programs, mission trips and internships or just blogging and using it as a journal. It got me thinking, what a concept? A journal that is posted online so others can view it. An opportunity to be vulnerable with things that you are struggling with and also recognize people and experiences that are helping you through everyday life. I then proceeded to think about my main concern with blogging and how it was kind of a quick fix...meaning instead of calling a friend to see how they were doing, I could just click on their blog and see what was happening.
We have so many of these "quick fixes" in our society now. I grew up using AIM(Instant Messenger) and I still do. I am constantly on Facebook to keep tabs on old high school friends, college friends, camp friends, and the current students that I work with. Instead of a call I am constantly just texting because its "easier" or its more comfortable to text someone that "I can't make it out to dinner tonight...sorry". The other night I was in a nostalgic mood, so for the first time in a long time I journaled and pulled out my old picture box and looked at pictures from high school, college, camp and the Fellows program. I then was trying to think of why I hadn't looked at these pictures in so long? I realized that I didn't need to look at these pictures and reminisce on things because I could just go to Facebook and look at pictures that I was "tagged" in. If I started blogging wouldn't I just be adding to all of this new tech generation that is dependent on electronic gadgets, the world wide web and electronic servers?
Maybe I am or maybe I am just "adapting to society". So here it is folks my first blog post. We'll see how regularly I will post, but I figured, why not try just for a little bit. Here are some upcoming things I think I might talk about...

-Graduation for the Covenant College Class of 2008

-The annual Scott Hwang summer wedding tour 2008. I will only be able to make it to 2 of the 4 which happen to line up one weekend after the next starting on May 25.

-First visit to Wrigley Field

-ACSD Conference (Associated Christians in Student Development)

-Going back to SB2W (camp) to help out for a few days

-Starting Grad School at Geneva College Summer Institute in Higher Education