Let's call this guy motivation. I went running, over an hour... it was about time. I think my usual workout (Insanity, like P90X) would stress out my grandma.
On that note, a green tea eclair!
Oh how I take reliable internet for granted. I've lost so many emails and posts, you'd think I would figure it out by now! Today I filled out many job applications, worked on my Japanese resume, and finished up sending some transcripts to grad schools. I left my little laptop corner once for dinner, and another time, dressed in my turtleneck (attempted to be hidden under a scarf) to buy milk and some baking stuff. I'm going to bake tomorrow because my grandma was sad that her new oven has never been used.
Noah and I had a great time in Nagoya visiting sites, shopping, eating, talking, and exploring. I take notes at shrines now because of the topic of research I've been stuck on: how the similarities of Buddhist and Catholic tradition caused misunderstandings several hundred years ago.
We've been trying to take my grandma places as often as possible. We went to Odaiba a few days ago and kaiten sushi (rotating sushi plates?) yesterday. Noah and I ate 34 plates combined after full meals and many meal-like snacks that day. That poor restaurant didn't know what they had coming that evening.
I finished Crazy Love, and there were so many good quotes (in italics):
- Frederick Buechner writes, "Intellectually we all know that we will die, but we do not really know it in the sense that the knowledge becomes part of us. We do not really know it in the sense of living as though it were true. On the contrary, we tend to live as though our lives would go on forever."
- Romans 11:35-36 says, "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen."
- Most of us use "I'm waiting for God to reveal His calling on my life" as a means of avoiding actions. Did you hear God calling you to sit in front of the television yesterday? Or to go on your last vacation? Or exercise this morning? Probably not, but you still did it. The point isn't that vacations or exercise is wrong, but that we are quick to rationalize our entertainment and priorities yet are slow to commit to serving God.
- When I am consumed by my problems -- stressed out about my life, my family, and my job -- I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God's command to always rejoice. In other words, that I have a "right" to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities.
I didn't plan out every detail of Japan was so that I would trust God as my provider. That way I won't get the credit because there is nothing I can do that He didn't give me the capability to do.
- God says, "I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols" (Isaiah 42:8)