"Temptation is a suggested short-cut to the realization of the highest at which I aim -- not towards what I understand as evil, but towards what I understand as good...God does not save us from temptations; He succours us in the midst of them." -Oswald Chambers
I only now begin to realize how low I am aiming.
"...God gets glory when two very different and very imperfect people forge a life of faithfulness in the furnace of affliction by relying on Christ." -John Piper
long overdue, but some pictures from our family trip to San Francisco and back - in a car, of course (7/25 - 8/3).
Mt. Rushmore, SD. I forget the peoples' faces but you can look them up yourselves. It's a lot smaller in real-life than I imagined...oh well, still impressive that someone spent all that time to carve up that mountain.
Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, WY. It smells like sulphur everywhere. I actually got absolutely drenched by a geyser that day...hah.
Elk? Also in Yellowstone. Underexposure problems.
Guy painting at the Lower Falls at Yellowstone. Inspiration Point was closed because of road construction, so this is at Artist Point (I guess it is correctly named...). Gorgeous place.
Grand Tetons National Park, WY, just south of Yellowstone.
Sit-down restaurant at Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Tetons National Park. Food was OK but expensive. You pay for the view, definitely.
Sunset in Logan, UT. I think we're waiting in the parking lot of a KFC, stopped because someone had to use the bathroom (not me).
Great Salt Plains, somewhere between Salt Lake City, UT, and Reno, NV. Yes, my dad pulled over in the shoulder of I-80, and we got out and took pictures.
Hoover Tower at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. Bells at the top of the tower. Everything else was boring.
San Francisco, CA, from the Oakland Bay Bridge, the double-decker one the collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Taken out the backseat window of a moving car.
SunRISE on the way home from San Francisco. We left SF at 7AM on a Saturday...and got home at 11PM on Sunday. This was around sunrise on Sunday morning...that was not a fun drive home.
That's all...I have a lot more (I took about 800ish pictures, but a lot of them are bad) but it takes forever to upload on my slow internet.
first week of medical school is almost through. my thoughts and impressions:
-medical school is already extremely humbling. the Dean shared people's personal statements at the white coat ceremony. there was a guy who was a medic in Iraq on 3 occasions, an NCAA record holder, a start from last year's Butler Bulldog basketball team, and many others. I feel remarkably...normal - and that's ok.
-2 days into anatomy and i already feel behind. lectures go so fast, the professor just seems to whip through different parts (we're studying the superficial and deep back muscles right now) without even thinking, having memorized human anatomy it seems. again very humbling. and the other classes (cell/molecular bio, biochem, immunology...) haven't even started yet. head is already spinning...
-food, no matter how bad it looks or might be, tastes better when you cook it yourself. though i am extremely slow. i called my mom while cooking b/c i was worried about some smoke/steam coming from the pot - fail.
-one week in and most people seem to be nice, relaxed, and caring. are we all being genuine to each other? we'll find out soon enough once the stress and group work begins.
-it's hard fight the urge to write about med school in the language of medicine. but i must, lest i forget how to communicate with the rest of the world.
-first day of anatomy, we dissected cadavers, looking for the muscles of the back. i can't say i was affected by it, but i can't say it didn't affect me either. it's just weird to think about what we're doing, basically digging into what was once a living, loving, loved, human being who was willing to (knowingly) donate their body expressly for our education. i'll admit, it is a little eerie when i step back during lab and watch my lab group (and others) hammering and chiseling away at the vertebral column so we can dissect the spine. and it's weird seeing people use a turkey baster (no joke!) to drain fluid from the table...more on anatomy in the future.
-finally, where is God? i need/want to find a church, a community, brothers and sisters who share my faith. i find myself hiding it, not mentioning it too much. today, in a session on professionalism, the speaker (an M.D. or Ph.D or some other highly educated IUSM faculty) asked us to share in pairs about our values, and i found myself having a hard time sharing about what i value most, what i wanted to get out of being a doctor, and what i wanted from my life. is God that far away...rephrase: am I that far away from God? (read Chambers for Aug. 13.)
...and classes haven't even started in full yet...oh boy.
"Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
the hour i first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
Tis grace that brought us safe thus far,
and grace will lead us home.
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures."
-Amazing Grace (stanzas 2-4) by John Newton (1725-1807)
