Good evening everyone! I hope that you all had a great week. I know that many of you are about to go on, are already on, or already had your Spring Break and I hope that it goes/went well! Anyway, now to the big highlight of the week...
On Saturday the 21st I went to Chris Tomlin's Love Ran Red concert where Rend Collective and Tenth Avenue North also performed! This took place at the Patriot Center, which is part of George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. My friend of the family was gracious enough to take me to this performance and he is also a fan of Chris Tomlin. This was the first Christian concert that I ever went to and they set the bar really high for all future Christian concerts that I attend. I had never seen so many believers gathered together before and it was amazing to be a part of it. I will try not to give away too many details since I know that tomorrow the Love Ran Red tour will be in Minneapolis and I don't know if any of you are going to the performance or not. If for some reason you live near Minneapolis but aren't going, I can tell you that you're missing out on some great music.
All of the musicians were absolutely fantastic! Rend Collective started the show with a lot of energy and we audience members got to engage in a bit of Irish chicanery by jumping in the stands. Since St. Patrick's Day was on the 17th, they said "you're welcome" to the audience for enjoying the holiday. (Rend Collective is from Ireland, which is something I didn't know until that night.) Tenth Avenue North took the stage next and they played some music from their newest album Cathedrals as well as some of their older songs. Lead singer Mike Donehey actually went in among the crowds for a portion of one of the songs. Then Chris Tomlin at last performed a mixture of songs from his newest album, Love Ran Red, and some of his most well-known songs over the years. At one point of the concert, Chris Tomlin asked the audience who had attended a performance of his before and who was attending their first one that night. To those of us who it was our first time at a concert of his, he asked, "Where have you been?" We all laughed. There was also a bit of a Q&A session and we found out Chris Tomlin's opinion on Chipotle and the background behind "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)" among a few other things. By the time everything was over, I wished that the night went longer.
Now I know that people can have these spiritual high moments, whether it's a Christian concert, a Prepare retreat, or a week at a Bible camp, and then they're scared that they will end up no better off than they were before. Unfortunately that does happen sometimes because the daily routine of life sets in again and then that event fades into our memories as something cool that happened, but it doesn't end up propelling us forward to have a closer relationship with God. So then the big question is how to prevent ourselves from sliding back into the way things were before such an event. After thinking about this for many years, I think I may have an answer to that question...
We have to put in effort in order to dive deeper and know God's heart better. If we don't actively work to make ourselves better people than we were before the spiritual high event happened, then it is only natural to return to old habits after a period of time. The same principle is true when it comes to friendships, athletics, music, or anything else that requires effort in order to cause improvement. Matthew 26:41 talks about how we are to watch and pray so we don't fall into temptation because while the spirit may be willing, the body is weak. However, we're human, which means there will be times where we stumble. This does not mean we are to give up because of our shortcomings and weaknesses. If anything, this means that we need to ask God to come alongside us in our efforts to come closer to Him for even though we may not be able to do it by our own strength, with God ALL things are possible when we seek Him and abide in Him. What this effort looks like can vary from person to person and season to season, but it can be anything from meditating more on God's Word, to spending more time in prayer, to having a jar where each day a blessing is put in the jar. No matter how the effort manifests itself, God is glad that we want to know Him better since He loves us and enjoys when we choose to spend time with Him.
Well, hopefully this post will be some good food for thought until I post again next week. In the meantime, enjoy your week!
Friday, March 27, 2015
Friday, March 20, 2015
Visitors! YAY!
Good evening everyone! I hope that you all had a good week. I'm aware that some of you already have, are in the midst of, or will soon have your Spring Break. To those of you who no longer have Spring Breaks, I can now say that I can relate to you since I will not have a Spring Break this year either. In fact, now that I think about it, last spring will be the last time that I ever have a Spring Break. I think I made a good trade-off though by spending a semester here. Anyway, quite a bit has happened since I last wrote a post...
On Saturday the 14th in the morning I went to pick up my friend Victoria at the airport. The last time we spent time together was over a year ago. I didn't expect a lesson in patience though, for Victoria's flight had a two-hour delay in Philadelphia. I wish I brought a book along for the wait. Needless to say, we were very happy to see each other when her flight finally came in. We headed to my apartment for some lunch before we went to see the Washington Monument and the Holocaust Museum. I confess that I failed to take into account that since it is now tourist season (from March until about September), it's harder for people to get tickets for various places, such as the Holocaust Museum or going up the Washington Monument. As a result of this, we couldn't get into the Permanent Exhibition of the Holocaust Museum, so instead we went to the temporary exhibitions such as the Children's Wall (a wall of tiles painted by kids to express their feelings about the Holocaust) and the interactive exhibit more geared towards children so they could understand the Holocaust from a child's perspective. We returned back to my apartment for dinner, and we discovered that bacon and cheese stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut is delicious! Later in the evening, we went back to the airport to pick up Victoria's boyfriend Riley and from there went our separate ways; I went to my apartment while they went to their hotel.
The next day, Sunday the 15th, all three of us met up after lunch in order to do more sightseeing. We went to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, then the White House for some pictures, a gift shop not too far from the White House, and Ford's Theatre. Seeing the timeline of the day of Lincoln's assassination from both Lincoln's and John Wilkes Booth's perspectives was a bit creepy. For dinner we went to GBD (short for Golden Brown Delicious), which is a restaurant that specializes in fried chicken and doughnuts. The Luther, a sandwich that has a doughnut as the bun, bacon, boneless fried chicken, maple-chicken jus (the taste reminded me of maple syrup), and pecans, was pretty good. Krispy Kreme was our dessert destination, and I am a bit sad that there are no more Krispy Kreme shops in Minnesota.
Fast-forward to Wednesday the 18th, and my supervisor allowed me to have a day to be a tour guide to Victoria and Riley. I made cinnamon rolls and bacon for breakfast, and I was relieved that the bacon turned out well since this was the first time I ever made bacon on the stove. (Back home I use the microwave to cook bacon, but the apartment didn't have any bacon trays.) Victoria and Riley came to my apartment for breakfast, and from there we went to the zoo. The bad news is that it was a chilly day, so not all of the animals were outside. However, among the highlights of creatures I did see in the zoo were giant pandas and an elephant that is 67 years old. After the zoo, we walked to the National Cathedral, which was nice to go to once again. (Note: If you ever visit the National Cathedral and don't want to pay in order to get a tour, visit on a Sunday.) From there we went to Shake Shack, a place known for their shakes and burgers. I tried their chicken hot dog, but I wasn't very impressed with it. I can tell you that the Beltway Blonde (a concrete mixer which contains vanilla custard, cheesecake blonde, salted caramel sauce, and banana) was pretty good, but I think that Doughnuts are Forever was better. Then we went to the Kennedy Center, where we found that the cherry blossoms are in bloom! We listened to a now 10 year old (his birthday was today) boy from Bolivia who is blind play the piano. He was fantastic and so sweet! Once the concert was over, Victoria and I took a few pictures of the Potomac River and the cherry blossoms. When we got to the Metro station, Riley and Victoria went to see a few memorials at night while I went back to my apartment.
Victoria and Riley flew back home this morning, but I believe that they enjoyed their Spring Break here. I'm glad I got to go with them to both places I've been to before and new places.
Stay tuned next week for more adventures! Have a terrific week everyone!
On Saturday the 14th in the morning I went to pick up my friend Victoria at the airport. The last time we spent time together was over a year ago. I didn't expect a lesson in patience though, for Victoria's flight had a two-hour delay in Philadelphia. I wish I brought a book along for the wait. Needless to say, we were very happy to see each other when her flight finally came in. We headed to my apartment for some lunch before we went to see the Washington Monument and the Holocaust Museum. I confess that I failed to take into account that since it is now tourist season (from March until about September), it's harder for people to get tickets for various places, such as the Holocaust Museum or going up the Washington Monument. As a result of this, we couldn't get into the Permanent Exhibition of the Holocaust Museum, so instead we went to the temporary exhibitions such as the Children's Wall (a wall of tiles painted by kids to express their feelings about the Holocaust) and the interactive exhibit more geared towards children so they could understand the Holocaust from a child's perspective. We returned back to my apartment for dinner, and we discovered that bacon and cheese stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut is delicious! Later in the evening, we went back to the airport to pick up Victoria's boyfriend Riley and from there went our separate ways; I went to my apartment while they went to their hotel.
The next day, Sunday the 15th, all three of us met up after lunch in order to do more sightseeing. We went to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, then the White House for some pictures, a gift shop not too far from the White House, and Ford's Theatre. Seeing the timeline of the day of Lincoln's assassination from both Lincoln's and John Wilkes Booth's perspectives was a bit creepy. For dinner we went to GBD (short for Golden Brown Delicious), which is a restaurant that specializes in fried chicken and doughnuts. The Luther, a sandwich that has a doughnut as the bun, bacon, boneless fried chicken, maple-chicken jus (the taste reminded me of maple syrup), and pecans, was pretty good. Krispy Kreme was our dessert destination, and I am a bit sad that there are no more Krispy Kreme shops in Minnesota.
Fast-forward to Wednesday the 18th, and my supervisor allowed me to have a day to be a tour guide to Victoria and Riley. I made cinnamon rolls and bacon for breakfast, and I was relieved that the bacon turned out well since this was the first time I ever made bacon on the stove. (Back home I use the microwave to cook bacon, but the apartment didn't have any bacon trays.) Victoria and Riley came to my apartment for breakfast, and from there we went to the zoo. The bad news is that it was a chilly day, so not all of the animals were outside. However, among the highlights of creatures I did see in the zoo were giant pandas and an elephant that is 67 years old. After the zoo, we walked to the National Cathedral, which was nice to go to once again. (Note: If you ever visit the National Cathedral and don't want to pay in order to get a tour, visit on a Sunday.) From there we went to Shake Shack, a place known for their shakes and burgers. I tried their chicken hot dog, but I wasn't very impressed with it. I can tell you that the Beltway Blonde (a concrete mixer which contains vanilla custard, cheesecake blonde, salted caramel sauce, and banana) was pretty good, but I think that Doughnuts are Forever was better. Then we went to the Kennedy Center, where we found that the cherry blossoms are in bloom! We listened to a now 10 year old (his birthday was today) boy from Bolivia who is blind play the piano. He was fantastic and so sweet! Once the concert was over, Victoria and I took a few pictures of the Potomac River and the cherry blossoms. When we got to the Metro station, Riley and Victoria went to see a few memorials at night while I went back to my apartment.
Victoria and Riley flew back home this morning, but I believe that they enjoyed their Spring Break here. I'm glad I got to go with them to both places I've been to before and new places.
Stay tuned next week for more adventures! Have a terrific week everyone!
Friday, March 13, 2015
Fast and Slow Paced
I hope that you all have enjoyed warmer weather this week. Anyway, this past week had both its busy and slow moments...
On Saturday the 7th I visited the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. I was there from the time that it opened at 11:30 AM until about 6:15 PM, but there was so much art to see and descriptions to read. I didn't want to rush through the place, and I enjoyed my time there. After a long day of looking at art, I went to this restaurant called Shake Shack, where I tried a concrete mixer called Doughnuts Are Forever, which consisted of vanilla custard, a coconut doughnut, strawberry jam, and rainbow sprinkles. It was delicious!
I'll skip forward to Wednesday the 11th, which was a busy day for AAPD. In the morning I was at a CEO Roundtable, which took place at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and had representatives from many different disability organizations. Then in the afternoon was the DEI (short for Disability Equality Index, which is a "national, transparent benchmarking tool that offers businesses an opportunity to receive an objective score, on a scale of zero to 100, on their disability inclusion policies and practices. It is an aspirational, educational, recognition tool that is intended to help companies identify opportunities for continued improvement and help build a company's reputation as an employer of choice" that was created with the help of AAPD and the US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) (http://www.usbln.org/programs-dei.html)) Reception at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. That evening was the AAPD Leadership Awards Gala, which also happened at the Convention Center. Needless to say, that was a busy day and even though there were a few small hitches, everything turned out all right at the end.
The next couple days were much slower. Yesterday was the first time ever that I got to leave my internship early due to a lack of things to do. Today I left my internship even earlier than yesterday since there was very little to do. While it seemed weird to have this unexpected free time, I am thankful for it, especially today.
Well, that's all for this week. May you all have a great upcoming week and stay tuned for next week's post!
Friday, March 6, 2015
A Mystery Solved and A Birthday Party
Good evening everyone! I hope that this week has been going well for you all and that you are keeping warm. The good news is that there is more for me to write about this week, so I'll cut to the chase with a couple highlights from the week.
My mystery all began on February 19th, where I received a text from my friend Kelly back from my college town. She asked me the following questions: Bling or not, dark or light, spring or fall, pattern or not? Now some people know that sometimes I ask 4 questions in order to determine what to give people, but this was the first time that the same technique was used on me. Needless to say I was a bit confused but also curious to find out what she and my other friends were up to. So I answered Kelly's questions and then waited... until this past Tuesday the 3rd when this came in the mail:
It was a card which contain messages from some of my friends from Prepare! I like to receive mail, and while this is not the first time that I got mail this semester, it was the first time where many people collaborated to send me mail. Thank you to Kelly, Lizzy, Amanda, Dani, Dave O., Mariah, Noah, and Rachel for pulling this surprise off!
On Wednesday the 4th, my two fellow interns at AAPD asked me to go to Ohio's Annual Birthday Party with them. (Both of my fellow interns are originally from Ohio.) I didn't know that people came together to celebrate the birthday of a state, but apparently it's a thing. So the three of us headed off to the Madison Building of the Library of Congress. To my relief, I did not get kicked out for actually being from Minnesota. Overall, there was great food and a nice change of scenery.
It feels weird to think about the fact that my semester is almost half over... Anyway, I hope you guys have a good week and stay tuned for next week's post.
My mystery all began on February 19th, where I received a text from my friend Kelly back from my college town. She asked me the following questions: Bling or not, dark or light, spring or fall, pattern or not? Now some people know that sometimes I ask 4 questions in order to determine what to give people, but this was the first time that the same technique was used on me. Needless to say I was a bit confused but also curious to find out what she and my other friends were up to. So I answered Kelly's questions and then waited... until this past Tuesday the 3rd when this came in the mail:
It was a card which contain messages from some of my friends from Prepare! I like to receive mail, and while this is not the first time that I got mail this semester, it was the first time where many people collaborated to send me mail. Thank you to Kelly, Lizzy, Amanda, Dani, Dave O., Mariah, Noah, and Rachel for pulling this surprise off!
On Wednesday the 4th, my two fellow interns at AAPD asked me to go to Ohio's Annual Birthday Party with them. (Both of my fellow interns are originally from Ohio.) I didn't know that people came together to celebrate the birthday of a state, but apparently it's a thing. So the three of us headed off to the Madison Building of the Library of Congress. To my relief, I did not get kicked out for actually being from Minnesota. Overall, there was great food and a nice change of scenery.
It feels weird to think about the fact that my semester is almost half over... Anyway, I hope you guys have a good week and stay tuned for next week's post.
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