Category: Personal
Today is World Suicide Prevention Day, Yesterday My Friend Tried to Commit Suicide
September 11, 2015
Is it ironic, coincidental, incidental or deliberate? It doesn’t really matter. It happened.
Yesterday, before 6am, I awoke to knocking at my door. In a haze, I woke up to my housemate telling me that one of our friends, CJ (name changed) was committing suicide. I’m not even sure I comprehended her as I was very groggy. All I remember is saying, what?! and her flashing her phone at me to a Facebook post our friend posted. She had posted various things but the main part was that she had decided to take her own life, taken a mixture of pills and had gone on a walk and that maybe someone would find a body.
Psalm of Thanksgiving
November 18, 2014
A couple weeks ago, the topic of Hermeneutics was Psalms during our Wednesday night fellowship. Much of it was taken from Gordon Fee’s “How to read the Bible for All Its Worth.”
Uniqueness of Psalms
- They are God’s word (is word supposed to be capitalized?) written in the form of words directed to God.
- They are poetic and therefore need a different type of interpretation
- Not meant as a specific doctrine
- Meant to be emotional so it requires an emotional “softness” to fully experience
- Each psalm operates more as its own unit and less as a whole book
- There are different types of psalms written for different purposes
I Just Signed Up for My First Triathlon
May 3, 2014
2014 ACTIVEx Charity Challenge: The Stir from ACTIVEx on Vimeo.
Every year, my office participates and puts on this this huge event called ACTIVEx Charity Challenge. It’s basically a fundraiser for an organization paired up with getting us people in the office active through a triathlon (though you can sign up for a duathlon or 5K). Last year, I was injured so it was easy to say no. Haha. This year, I had a lot of back and forth thoughts on whether or not to participate. Reasons to participate: this is probably the best group and best opportunity of people to participate with, these folks do this day in and day out, it’ll get me back into being active, it’s for the kids, I’ll use my bike, and I’ll run again. Reasons to not participate: I don’t know how well my body will hold up, it’s healing but not 100%, I’m SCARED, scared of swimming, swimming the distance, swimming in open water, finding time to train, wondering if I am physically able to even do a whole triathlon, etc.
Sometimes You Gotta Just Do It
January 15, 2014
Most of our lives we probably sit around pondering things we could do, things we should do, things we want to do, things we’ll do later, and things we should have done. For me, sometimes I think about doing things or I start thinking a lot about things that sound intriguing or even mildly interesting. Sometimes, I’m just curious about things. And so, I spend a lot of time thinking. Thinking and researching and talking about it but never actually doing it.
I don’t do it because I’m scared and I don’t know if I’m capable. Maybe I’m hesitant because I don’t know if it is something I actually WANT to do. Maybe I’m hesitant because I don’t know if it is something I should do. Usually, the hardest step is the first step. It’s like running or going to workout, the hardest step is to get to the destination. Once you’re there, it’s gravy.
But sometimes you just gotta jump right in with two feet and hope for the best. Spending a lot of time pondering and thinking about it helps some but doesn’t truly get you anywhere until you actually take action. And since the hardest step is the first one, sometimes it’s better to just jump in. You know, like getting into a swimming pool because the water is so cool. Better to just jump in and get it over with and then realize it’s not so bad after all. Haha.
Since I’ve had several things on my mind lately that I’ve just been thinking about over and over again. I decided to just take the plunge and hope for the best.
First off, I joined the Exodus Core Group. I was really hesitant about this because I just didn’t know if it was something I wanted to do, should do, a combination of both or something else. It was something I wanted to be apart of but did I want to fully commit to it? Yeah, that’s a lot of time commitment and responsibility. Did I believe in the vision? Is there a plan? Can we actually do this? After much thought, prayer, conversations with friends, recent sermons, and studies through our Spiritual Formation Group, I realized that there wasn’t a really good reason to NOT do it. And with that, I decided to just do it. I have no idea what is going to happen. We haven’t even had our first meeting yet. But I believe that the experience will be a good way to grow spiritually and personally, it will be a way for me to use the skills God has give to me to serve our church, it will be a good way for us to grow with each other and to motivate each other, and it will give us an opportunity to make changes and impact the church in a (hopefully) positive way. Will we be successful? I don’t know but I sure hope so. And since I’m IN IT, I’m going to try.
Secondly, I’ve been thinking about Team United a lot and how I need/want help with the ministry moving forward. I’ve led the ministry for about 5 seasons/years and I would like to take a break, focus on new ministries, and have new leadership. Once again, thought about it a lot, prayed, talked about it but was still a bit hesitant to take action. Fears of no one volunteering, fears of what people might think of me, fear of people not taking it well all kind of bogged me down. But the reality of it is that despite all these things, it is time and I’m ready for a break and for new leadership. I want to help someone else grow and I want the ministry to continue to grow too. And so with that, I reached out to several folks to see where they were at and if they were interested in taking on this ministry. It was tough to offer that up but I feel like it is time.
Lastly, I’ve been eyeing this kickboxing class for a few days. The classes look intriguing, the results look even more enticing. It seems like a great workout and what better way to workout than to have someone else push you. The hardest step was buying the groupon and the next hardest step is activating it. I kept asking Jasen if I should do it and he kept saying yes. I also tried to get my friends to join since I like buddy systems. I kept looking at their website, at the groupon, at the videos, at their facebook. Obviously I was interested, I just didn’t really want to do it myself. Needless to say, I just did it. I clicked the buttons and bought the groupon and proceeded to freak out. I know once I actually make it to class I’ll be fine. The hard part is getting there but at least I got through step 1.
So that’s it. I just did it with fear and all. Sometimes you gotta just do it.

Iron Girl 5K 2013 Success
December 8, 2013
July 21, 2012 was the last time I ran in a race, in fact, ran at all (a real run). My BLAZING speed of 29 minutes. Haha, blazing compared to today. Continue Reading
Volunteering at the Challenged Athletes Foundation
October 15, 2013
Today, I got to use one of my PTO days to volunteer at the Challenged Athletes Foundation. We get one PTO day for volunteering, so that’s kind of cool. We had to pack a ton of goodie bags. It was for the San Diego Triathlon Challenge which is this weekend. The Challenged Athletes Foundation helps challenged athletes participate in athletics through training, rehabilitation, inspiration, and funding.
Our Mission & Values
It is the mission of the Challenged Athletes Foundation to provide opportunities and support to people with physical disabilities so they can pursue active lifestyles through physical fitness and competitive athletics. The Challenged Athletes Foundation believes that involvement in sports at any level increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life.
These goodie bags are awesome! I’ve never seen such a packed goodie bag with so much awesome stuff. You get a hoodie, a dri-fit shirt, a regular shirt, goggles, running socks, reusable bag, water bottle, gu, clif bars, more bars, more socks, a inspirational book, keyring bottle opener, yanks (shoelaces you don’t have to tie), hairspray, sunscreen, lotion, chapstick, visor, beanie, and two towels. I’m probably missing something. If you raise over a certain amount, you also get a tri top, tri shorts, and tri jacket. It’s pretty freaking awesome. Oh yeah, the backpack it comes in is a nice xterra backpack. Oh, and we didn’t get to pack these either but I think they get converse shoes! Last year, the record was 4 hours to complete all the goodie bags. This year we killed it in 2. It was actually a lot of fun to try and be super efficient and race people.

Goodie Bag Packing Madness
We also got to listen to a speaker who is one of the directors of the organization. He told us his story of how when his son was born, he had no hands and no legs. Him and his wife were so shocked and sad initially. They wanted to treat their son like any other boy. They heard about the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) and they moved to California. When his son was 8, he did his first run. The next year, he met this woman who also had no legs and only upper arms and saw that she swam a mile in the race. He was motivated by seeing someone just like him be able to accomplish something so big. He decided that he would swim the mile next year and he did. He went on to compete at the paraolympics in London and Beijing, winning medals from both. Wow. That’s amazing.
I wish I could watch one of these races and see how much has been accomplished. I wish we were able to talk to a challenged athlete to hear their story. Sometimes, all it takes for people is a little motivation and inspiration to see someone just like themselves accomplish something grand.

CAF Hoodie + Visor
I got a hoodie and a visor for volunteering. I love hoodies!
What’s the Matter with College?
October 1, 2013
Lately, I’ve been seeing articles popping up both online and on paper about college. And hopefully by the title of this post, you have gathered that they weren’t positive articles.
In my opinion, I do have some gripes about colleges as well and opinions about how they can be better. I feel like a college education these days is something that is expected. It’s a few letters you can put onto your resume. It’s something that if there is not really looked at unless maybe you are at some really good school, but if not present, may be frowned upon. Continue Reading
It’s Time to Rebuild
September 24, 2013

This is serious business.
I need to rebuild…myself.
I used to be a very active person. I played in a basketball league every week. I was running a lot. I played football. I could also do almost anything physical at a whim when it came to sports. About this time last year, I could also do 48 consecutive pushups.
That’s who I used to be. Who I am today is quite different. Continue Reading

Silver Lining Sunset Beginnings
September 8, 2013
And so it begins, this new blog here.
I was inspired by Alice over at “What’s On My Mind Grapes?” to start up a new blog. I love reading her posts because they’re so interesting, entertaining, and real. Some people have been asking me what I’m going to write about. I’m not entirely sure yet, probably musings, thoughts, things I do, things I want to do, something that will also be interesting to other people. I guess you’ll have to wait and see. Continue Reading