Quiz; Golf

Heard about this cool quiz on the Washington Post's website from someone in my Ron Paul 2008 MeetUp group. I took it for the Republicans; Ron Paul won for me quite decisively although I disagreed with him on a few topics and thought that other candidates had some good things to say. Fred Thompson came in second for me and Huckabee was third.

Also, Sarah and I went to the driving range today on a gorgeous December day. Since I'm trying to tell Sarah that golf has many deep connections to the Christian life, it got me thinking. A few key ones:

1) You're success is judged by how well you do against an unattainable goal of perfection, not simply by doing better than others. God doesn't judge us based on if we're better than most people, but rather against the law. No one lives up to the law as described in the 10 commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, which leads us to why we need Jesus and his perfection to be counted to us. Golfers, even those who win tournaments and/or break scoring records, are very aware of their mistakes and how they could have saved a few strokes out there. Golf sets the bar so high that you inevitably leave being very aware that you are imperfect.

2) Thinking about what not to do is futile. Thinking "don't hit it in the water" actually makes me more likely to hit it in the water, just like thinking "don't be prideful" doesn't work at all. You've got to set your mind not on your performance but on hope-giving truth (in life: joy and peace in Christ's sacrifice on your behalf, in golf: trusting your swing and preparation). In golf you're essentially trusting in yourself, and in the Christian life you trust not in yourself but in Christ's work so the analogy breaks down eventually, but you get the idea.

3) Growing as a golfer leads to a greater awareness of your own imperfections. Today at the range I'd hit a shot and Sarah would be like "Wow that was amazing!" In response I'd say "Not really - see how I opened up and it went like 20 yards left of my target?" The more you improve in golf, the more aware you are of the mistakes you are making. There are some interesting similarities with the Christian life here as well. As we grow as Christians we become more aware of our deep-seated idolatries and self-reliance, and yet that same awareness leads us to take ever-increasing comfort in God's grace and commitment to redeem the great mess that we are. We are being sanctified, but it isn't like we're thinking "wow I'm doing awesome out here!" as we may be. Oftentimes, it is only when we take a look back at our lives that we realize how God is changing us.

Other sports certainly have similarities with the Christian life, as Sarah has been great to remind me. The similarities described here are not exact, and there are surely other connections between golf and the Christian life. In any event, these ones are pretty cool. Thank God for golf!

On another random note, here's a picture that Sarah took while a group of us followed a recommendation to visit to a classy winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains named "The Ridge".

Writer's Strike

The writer's strike is the best thing that happened to The Office this season. Re-runs are so much better.

Oh Abe

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
- Abraham Lincoln

Many of you will have likely heard this quote before... one of those ubiquitous ones. I saw it recently and it occurred to me that I disagree with it. Maybe this quote describes an effective and shrewd approach in diplomacy or politics, but in my case I use this sort of strategy because I want people to think I'm smarter than I am. It is an "effective" way for me to pursue the idol of wanting people to think highly of me :-\. Not to mention it is dishonest.

What else is up? Michigan's athletic department broke my heart and Les Miles' heart by in effect passing on Les during a crazy weekend. I'll get over it: Michigan football is bigger than one coach. Still sucks because Les bled (probably past tense) maize and blue and seems to be a solid coach.

Hey, Christmas is almost here: "There's a lot to shout about!" - Sufjan Stevens.

An Evening In

So, Michael and I decided to take an evening in tonight. We usually head over to RUF at Stanford for some awesome teaching from the book of John. We like to pretend that we're still college students actually, and, fortunately, we blend right in with the graduate students. Tonight, though, we decided not to go because I was feeling thoughtful and wanted to stay home and read and write for a bit. So here I am, writing a bit. :)

This picture on the left is me with my old roomates, Jenny and Daphne. It was taken during the first week of October 2007 when I was in Chicago for an International Entrepreneurship conference put on by my old place of employment. It was a fantastic conference, and an added bonus that I got to reconnect with not only my old roommate, Jenny, but also Christine and my one and only sister, Alli. Needless to say we had a blast. We visited Jenny's new office in downtown Chicago, met some of her colleagues, and stayed at her new condo. Jenny is now working for a law firm called Jenner & Block in Chicago. Christine, meanwhile, is taking on her first year of law school after graduating with a Master in Social Work with me. She's doing great and also now has her own place in Chicago. My sister drove up from Bloomington to see me and to have an early celebration of her 21st birthday! Here's another picture of the rest of us, with Daphne of course. Oh I wish they lived out here too.Soon after, we had a good friend visit us in the San Francisco Bay Area. None other than our friend from University of Illinois, Dwayne Hagerman came out to interview with Google. We had a good time checking out the Monterey Bay Aquarium first. We also headed up to San Francisco to drive up some crraazy hills in the city, go over the Golden Gate Bridge, enjoy some sourdough bread, and take advantage of the opportunity to eat dinner in a Jazz club in downtown San Fran. It was sweet! All of these activities were also firsts for Michael and me too! On the right is a cool picture of some of the many jelly fish we saw at the aquarium. I'm including another picture from this same trip that Dwayne took, practicing his photo-framing skills, of me and Michael after we crossed the Golden Gate.

Overall, things have been going so well for us out here on this big adventure out West. I obviously miss friends and family a lot, but we're slowly but surely learning to make new friends while keeping the old. Or so the old Girl Scout song goes, I think.

In just about a week, we'll see the Bloems for the inaugural Thanksgiving in LA., and then a month after that we'll be back in Illinois for some serious Christmas celebrations. Thank you for all your prayers and support as we learn about the joys and challenges of living in a new place, getting settled into new jobs, and adapting comfortably to married life together. I'll try to continue to keep you all updated as we go on little new adventures out here! Signing off for now...
To God be the glory--Sarah and Michael

Algorithms are cool

Thursdays are great because I hit the stairmaster with a copy of The Economist after work at NASA's gym. Today I read a cool article about algorithms. Algorithms are basically what I'm doing now for a living and its been fun - I think I might try make a career out of it, depending on how things work out. Plus they seem useful. Okay that's all.

Ron Paul

I came across a facebook note by my friend and Paulite Eric Smith that got me all excited about Dr. Ron Paul again. After spending a good hour or so watching Paul videos on YouTube I'm feeling more compelled by his message of small government, personal liberty, free markets, and peaceful and non-interventionist foreign policy than I have in a while. Great message brought with integrity from Dr. Paul. Also saw this excellent piece on Dr. Paul on Eric's wall. Lo recomiendo.

Consider this post to be this blog's official endorsement of Ron Paul. Yes I got Sarah's permission.

De glorie is aan God

Sarah is so awesome. Back in the day when we were dating she emailed my mom to get her some recipes that she could cook for me. Awesome I know. The great part is that she signed off her email by writing "De glorie is aan God", which means roughly "To God be the glory" in Dutch. As Timm would say: Love. it.

So I'm guessing that most anyone who reads this blog will have seen this article in the NYT but anyhow I'll put it here because it is pretty awesome. My favorite Hart article is still probably this one, however. GO BLUE!