A Full and Abundant Life

Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10b)

this is the verse that i think of when i think about dwight's life. over the past week since his accident, i've gone through many emotions and thoughts about the events that took place. there was the amazing way no one was hurt after dwight passed out at the wheel, to the timely cpr and care of the nearby construction workers, to the encouraging note that one of these workers and his whole family had just become new believers, to the way God's family came together to provide prayer and support, to the amazing miracles of his mom and uncle accepting Christ and then there were the hard times when they said his brain activity showed signs of damage and the MRI tests that showed evidence of lack of oxygen to his brain.

as i reflected and prayed over the past week, i became more and more amazed at what a faithful and FULL life dwight has had even though he's not that much older than me! i first got to really know dwight when we went on a 6 week missions trip to brazil. we were on the same team and i got to see his heart for serving others and his heart for following and glorifying God in all he did. on the trip, he hurt his foot (above pic) but didn't allow that to stop him from serving others. i saw his gentle spirit and his big heart....and his funny side too! i also got to serve with him on the mission board and saw his passion for expanding God's kingdom. then i saw him faithfully follow God to kazakhstan and loved hearing how he even used some of the english lessons we did in brazil over there too. he also followed God's guidance in organizing perspectives classes here in seattle so that fellow believers like myself could learn about what God is doing all over the world and get excited about joining God in kingdom work. dwight had such a servant heart that when my front door lock broke one morning on my way to work, i didn't know who to call and i ended up contacting dwight who came over that very day and spent several hours fixing it for me. it was always a blessing to chat and catch up with dwight b/c he had such a caring heart and just being around him encouraged me to live more for God. dwight has touched and blessed the lives of so many people here in seattle and all over the world, and though i am sad he is gone i'm amazed at how FULL a life he has had and now i know he is enjoying eternity with Jesus. how awesome is that!

for me, reflecting on dwight's life has encouraged me to renew my pursuit of a life of knowing and following hard after God (a line from a popular praise song the year we went to brazil... we sang it a lot that year). my favorite verse, the words of the apostle paul, truly applies to dwight's life and i hope they may apply one day to my life as well, "(you) have fought the good fight, (you) have finished the race, (you) have kept the faith." (2 tim 4:7)

i'll miss you dwight, and i can't wait until we meet again so i can thank you for encouraging me to live a FULL life no matter how long or short it may be.

things i hate: cleaning!

the 'rents are coming into town this week and i've been procrastinating for the past 2 months to start cleaning my place and getting it in shape to have my mom, dad, gma and aunt stay with me. over the past couple of years i've been slowly letting my downstairs rooms... especially my bedroom... get filled up with "stuff" and the more it piled on the less i wanted to deal with it. i slowly stopped letting anyone go downstairs when i have friends over.

since my parents are going to be staying in my room while they're here it was inevitable that i finally start the cleaning process. you'd think that tackling a project this big would be best done in small manageable chunks, but since i'm a professional procrastinator, my tactic was just to do a deep dive and don't come out until it's all done. and so i spent 7 hours and got it done this past sunday. yes, that's SEVEN HOURS of pretty much non-stop cleaning/purging/recycling!!! and that's JUST my bedroom, nothing else.

however, i do love my almost perfectly clean room now and am glad i had the "motivation" to get it done. BUT it will not make me like cleaning any more than before. the reason i absolutely hate cleaning is b/c it always leads to a ton of sneezing and blowing of my nose. in fact, i usually get sick after a do a round of cleaning b/c my sinuses never really recover from it (yes, i've even tried the neti pot and wearing face masks while cleaning). now, most people would think well if you just clean more often then you wouldn't have to do massive clean-ups or maybe it won't be so dusty in places, but i seriously think i'm just allergic to the activity of cleaning. i vacuum my upstairs pretty frequently and yet every time i pull our the vacuum and start going, my nose starts running and i start sneezing.

ok my whine session is done now, just one more day of cleaning to go!

It's time to say goodbye...

yes, it's finally time to say goodbye to my beloved jetta. it's been a great car and i loved it very much. it was my first "big" purchase after entering the working world (also, my first real loan). i loved the color, i loved the moonroof, i loved how the lights inside were neon blue and red (one valet guy said it was like a dance club inside my car), i loved how comfortable and smooth it is to drive in.

but i feel it's time for me to move on....my jetta is slowly breaking down. i've already gone through an expensive round of replacing things (water pump, brakes, timing belts, etc) a couple of years ago. now it needs more work again (tires, windshield, maybe more). i feel less and less safe and secure driving it and with winter around the corner...well i just think it's time.

so i've done my research, i've submitted my request to dealerships for quotes and i'm praying that this new car buying process goes smoothly and quickly. i REALLY hate this process, but i'm hoping that by going with the online/email route it will save me some stress from dealing with the salespeople. so far so good....i've got quotes from 4 different people and i feel pretty good about being clear with what i want. hopefully within a week i'll have a new car! i can't wait!

but then again, i also feel that tinge of sadness as i realize i'm that much closer to having to say goodbye to my jetta *sniff*

Restless

i've become more and more restless lately...restless in my sleep, restless in my work, restless in just my life in general. i'm not sure what it is, but i don't like the feeling. i don't know if i can explain it really....i don't feel it all the time, there are times where i'm truly enjoying doing the things i do. but as soon as i'm done with that, i start to feel restless again and then there are also times i'm "doing" something and i feel like i'm just "getting by" in life instead of really living it.

anyways, this is NOT a good feeling...i hope i'll figure out why i'm feeling this way so i can get out of this funk.