Things I learned yesterday...

Claudia and Iheoma are back from their Urban Trek in Thailand! :D And BAyUP will be done soon, with Mike and A'Lester returning.

Reunion, soon?

Things I learned from golfing

Today I went golfing with my dad and two of his doctor buddies. I only started about 4 years ago and haven't had the chance to get much better these past 4 years so I'm still a newbie to the game. But these are three things I learned (and am continuing to learn).

1. Patience. Golf is frustrating and has a steep learning curve. Often the shot I end up hitting is far from the shot I was envisioning in my head and consequently, my bad shot sets me up for another difficult shot. Golf totally is a game where one mistake snowballs into many. I think learning patience is an eternal lesson for me and my patience is always in short supply, especially at home.

2. Humility. Along with the steep learning curve comes a lack of performance and skill. This is probably the only game my dad beats me in. And if you haven't noticed, I'm actually a pretty competitive person and am not really a big fan of losing. But what does winning or losing a game matter when the victory is already won in Christ? I think today helped me swallow my pride and focus on learning and getting better and accepting the criticism and tips from my dad.

3. Perseverance. Sometimes golf can be a long day when your game is off. A whole round of 18 holes can take 4 hours or more. Further, in a game where one bad shot snowballs into many more, sometimes one might feel like giving up and just moving on to the next hole. I think today stretched my perseverance and while I struggled at times, I managed to finish every hole.

With Aloha,

Kevin

Love, Loss and Life

Between dead week and graduation, I lost 3 people in my life, two of them family members.  One was my cousin who died at the young age of 27 of a heart attack.  Her weight had been a problem all her life and though she overcame her shyness to pursue an education, she ultimate was overcome with complications due to her size.   I found out about her death the morning after graduation, and a week later of my mother's husband's passing.  With each call, each moment, I became increasingly more aware of my own mortality and that of those around me.  Even more reason to get healthy, find love, show love to those I love now, and more.

In about a month I will leave the bay area for a city and a coast I have never been to.  I hear all kinds of things about New York, movies and tv shows depict it from its glitz to its over-ratedness.  Another chance to embrace what I have learned in and out of the classroom and apply it to the short life I have left here before the long life I live in eternity waiting for me on the other side of the Jordan.  I will also be celebrating my golden birthday next month, 26 years old on the 26th.

I have already lived so much, and I know now that there is so much more living I want to do.  Last year, on my birthday, I wrote a letter to myself and this year on my birthday I will read it and write another for my 27 year old self.  I will seal that letter and pray that the day I read it, I will be able to smile at my hopes and nod at my epiphanies bolstered with the blessings of the year to yet again continue writing to my future self.  In a way, as I write to the woman I am going to be, I get a preview and a few requests before she is cooled from the ovens of life's trials and consumed by the passions of her heart.