No rest for the weary

That's a negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.

"Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down, tells you she's hurting before she keels..."

On Saturday I was supposed to attend a wedding but my car died. I was on my way to dim sum with a group from CABC when my car shut off on the road. All the sudden the gauges went dark and the steering got all stiff. When I tried to restart it all I got was an electrical choking sound from the dash protesting my efforts. Good thing I was caravan-ing with Andrew, he was able to pull up alongside and give me a jump. We had to do that three times before I was able to get into the focus plaza parking lot. We drove from Monterey Park, it wasn't far at all. After dim sum I tried to get a tow truck but towing from my insurance only covers a maximum distance of five miles. My sister's friend's dad is a mechanic and he's worked on the car before and he's really nice so I wanted to take it to him. The only problem is that he's in Monrovia, a little bit more than five miles from focus plaza. I decided to try my luck and use sheer willpower to get my car to the mechanic. Either the Force is not strong with me or I need to work on focusing my chi. I was able to restart on the fly once though. I was on a downhill slope when the power went out again. Seeing that I had quite a distance to coast before my vehicle became a significant threat to my life and the lives of the other motorists around me I decided to force a restart using my momentum. I had to think quick, I turned off the ignition and quickly set it back to the on position hoping to restart the electrical system or something. Shifting into first gear to get the most rpm's out of my car's current velocity I popped the clutch so that the turning of the tires would start turning the engine. The vehicle protested and lurched like a wild animal but no power returned to the systems; the gauges remained dark. I was still going down hill so I decided to give it some gas, maybe that would give it enough of a kick to get going again. I started to pump the pedal and I heard something from the engine but saw nothing from the gauges; still no power. The lurching and the noises from the engine continued. Finally with a roar the power returned, the gauges lit up and I was greeted with a happy wave of the needles as they assumed their proper positions displaying my rpm and speed. I shifted just as I came to the bottom of the slope of the underpass and the engine carried the car up and out the other side. I was feeling pretty cool at that point. Ten minutes later the car died again. This time there was no restarting it. I didn't have the momentum. This time I was within five miles of the mechanic so I waited in the middle of the street for the tow truck. Luckily my emergency blinkers still had power and no body rear ended me.  I got to the mechanic and Mr. Nakamura still remembered me from two years ago and said he'd be happy to look at the car. Needless to say I missed the wedding, but I made it to the reception with my mom's car. It was so awesome! A small contingent from the USC marching band came in a played a few numbers. Also, my mom is out of town so I get to use her car for the week. What a perfect time for a breakdown. Thanks God! I got a call this morning from Mr. Nakamura. Earlier he suspected that the charging system was shot. Jeff Roets hypothesized that it was my alternator, which I guess is the same thing. When I got the call he told me I just needed a new battery... haha. (Toyota + Japanese mechanic = WIN!) Sweet! I do need to fix my AC though, so the car will stay there for a few more days. Either the magnetic clutch on the compressor is burnt out or the power coupling on the negative axis has been polarized or the primary buffer pannel needs to be replaced. I can't remember which.

I need a cool name for my car. Any ideas?

Cambodia 2007

How to Get to Where You Don't Know You are Going

Check out this map of part of Paul's missionary journeys and the corresponding verses in Acts.

Theymade their way through Phyrgia [6] and Galatia [7], but the Holy Spiritprevented them from speaking God's message in Asia. When they came toMysia [8] theytried to enter Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus would not allowthem. So they passed by Mysia and came down to Troas [9], where onenight Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man standing and appealing tohim in the words: "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" (Acts 16:6-9)

Well what's so special about a bunch of verses telling us where Paulwent? Let's go back to chapter 15, where Paul and Barnabas have adisagreement over whether John Mark should be allowed to join them. Theresult is a split and two different teams with two differentdestinations. What a great way to start out a mission trip. Once Paulstarts the trip he tries to go to three different places but God closesthe door each time. Paul has no idea where he's supposed to go. Afterabout 700 miles of travel you can imagine how discouraging this couldbe becoming. With no other direction to go in they reach Troas and canwalk no farther because it's on the coast; finally God gives Paul avision. However, if you keep reading in chapter 16 you find out thatonce they reach Macedonia they find women by the river and a demonpossessed girl but no sign of a Macedonian man. Wasn't that the vision?Was that really from You God? After a few days Paul might have beenasking these questions. But wait it gets better, after driving thedemon from the girl the crowd attacks Paul and Silas, they get flogged,thrown into jail, and have their feet put into stocks. Yet somehow Pauland Silas are still able to pray and sing hymns. What do these men knowthat keeps them going?

I feel like Paul and Silas much of the time, not really sure where Godis trying to lead me. God, what should I major in? God, which schoolshould I go to? God, should I date this girl? God, where do You want meto work? God, should I go on this mission trip? God, should I stay foran extra two weeks of language study? The pressure of all thesedecisions can get quite stifling and it's so easy to feel overwhelmed.I feel so lost. My spirit feels crushed, how can I sing and praise God?

What did these men have that I need? Faith. Trusting that God is takingcare of us, that He knows what's going on, and that when He sayssomething He means it. But having faith would be easy if thingshappened right away. There's a second element: patience. I've heard itdefined as doing something you don't like for a long time. That's why patience is also called longsuffering. If you were doing something that you liked, it wouldn't require patience, it would be fun and natural.Faith and patience need to work together to get us to where God wantsus to be.

At midnight, while Paul and Silas are singing and praying, an earthquake hits and frees themfrom their chains. The jailer is about to kill himself when Paulreassures him that all the prisoners are still there. He falls atPaul's feet and asks what he must do to be saved. "At that hour of thenight the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately heand all his family were baptized" (Acts 16:33).