Reflection

If you read the archive of my blog entries on the the right side of the screen, you will see that this is the first post I have made since January. The following six months can be described in several ways.

Financially: I spent an average of $200 per month on gas. I spent more money on plane tickets than I have in my life. My monthly income translated into a little less than $12,000 per year, a sum well below the poverty line in the US.
Geographically: I divided my time almost equally among Los Altos, Fresno, and Davis. I visited Boston, Atlanta, and San Clemente for the first time in my life. I went camping in Yosemite and spent my first day as 23 year old in Disneyland.
Emotionally: I grew closer to a woman than I ever have in my life. I also fell in love with the same woman.
Spiritually: I went through a period of spiritual dryness followed by a time of spiritual renewal. I experienced my deep need for God, and his demand for all of my heart. I also learned that if He has it all, the rest will follow. Or not. The point is all you need is not love, but Him, and in Him is true love.

I couldn't have made it through this year without the group of guys in my Bible study, who supported me as I swooped in as a brash young recent college graduate, and from whom I was able to learn so much about being Godly.

I also could not have made it through this year without my family, who despite our disagreements still supported me and loved me through a difficult time. I love each of them dearly.

Most of all God blessed me with an amazing woman who has been there for my lowest moments, while I worked at a job that was below my potential, and experienced separation from the community I had found in college. She carried me through this year, and I thank God for her every day.

This is starting to sound like an Oscar speech. But as I sit back for a little bit to reflect on this year. I feel proud. I made a tough decision to change course, and I realized that goal. I am now going to Emory in Atlanta to study Epidemiology. If I make it through, I will have a Master of Public Health, and from there, who knows?

So perhaps a cheesy Oscar speech is in order. So before the music starts playing to usher me off the stage...

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above Ye Heavenly Host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

The doxology is one of my favorites. It always makes me happy that they sing it at the end of services at University Presbyterian in Fresno.