Day Three in Minnesota

From Sunday

It wasn't as cold today. The temperature was about 35 degrees. What great weather!

This morning, we went to church with my family to Faith Church. It is the Evangelical Free Church in Wahpeton, North Dakota. I enjoyed it a lot.

Next, we went to lunch with my grandparents, my cousins, and my aunt Jan. Then, we packed up and met my parents in Fergus Falls, Minnesota to drive down to Minneapolis to catch our plane. We left Minneapolis at about 9:00pm local time and arrived in San Francisco at about 11:20pm local time.

I enjoyed our trip. I don't know what it is, but I still feel like Minnesota is home. I have some weird connection there and I love being there. Call me crazy, but Minnesota is one of my favorite places.

Day Two in Minnesota

Again, I wrote this a few days ago.

Well, I’m on the road right now between Fargo, North Dakota and Wahpeton, North Dakota. We had a very busy day. Here’s how it went:

1. We left my aunt and uncle’s farm in Northern Minnesota in the morning to go to Grand Forks, North Dakota to go to my cousin’s college football game. He plays fullback for the University of North Dakota.

2. We watched my cousin Trent play his football game that afternoon. We made big poster-board signs that read, “TC=TD” and “Trent, you’re my hero!” (his full name is Trent Christensen for those that didn’t make the connection that TC was his initials.) He loved the signs and they made his teammates laugh.

3. We then went out to dinner at The Royal Fork restaurant in Grand Forks, ND. It is kinda like Fresh Choice in San Jose.

4. Now, we’re on the way to my other aunt and uncle’s house in Wahpeton, ND.

I must say, I love Minnesota and North Dakota. Some of my favorite people live here. It’s interesting to hear people out in Minnesota say, “The weather’s not too bad right now; it’s only 20 degrees outside.” I hear the same thing in San Jose, just with a 50 degree difference in temp.

I love hanging out with my cousins. We have such a great time together. We only see each other once a year, but we pick up right where we left off. We laugh and hang out and I have such a great time with them.

That’s about it for today.

Day One in Minnesota

I wrote this post a few days ago while I was in Minnesota. I couldn't get internet access, so here it is.

Today, I arrived in Minneapolis, MN at 6:00am. My sister Ruth and my brother Brad and I took the red eye flight from San Francisco last night. My parents picked us up at the airport because they were already here. We immediately drove south to Rochester, MN to visit my grandmother in Mayo Clinic. She was hospitalized again because she developed an infection in addition to her disease. But, this morning right as we arrived at the hospital the doctors came into her room to talk to her. What they said was amazing.

They told her that after all the tests they have done on her, the disease she had somehow practically disappeared. They told her that it hadn’t spread to any other parts of her body and that it is pretty much gone! They will be taking her off the medication she was on, which was making her very sick. This is a huge answer to prayer. Praise God.

I’ll never forget the look on my grandmother’s face when I walked into her hospital room today. She had been worried that she would never see us again. This disease had caused her to question whether she would even be around to see us this weekend. When the doctors told her that the disease had been halted and we showed up to see her, she couldn’t contain her joy. I practically burst into tears when I saw the pure joy on her face. She reached out frantically to give me a hug and I embraced her praising God that I got to see her. Today was huge for her because the news about the disease subsiding gave her hope about the future. She was talking about being able to see Greg’s graduation and the rest of her grandchildren get married, etc. I can’t explain how emotional this morning was.

So, I’m on the road right now on the way to meet my auntie Konnie, my uncle Kent, and my cousins Trent and Trevor for dinner in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I’ll publish this as soon as I can get internet access. Stay tuned for day 2.

mewithoutyou

I must say, these guys are awesome. I appreciate their creativity and I love the lyrics in their songs. In the song "The Dryness & The Rain" from their new album Brother, Sister there is a line in particular that I loved. It goes something like this:

"The fish swims in the sea, while the sea is in a certain sense contained within the fish. Oh, what am I to think what the writing of a thousand lifetimes could not explain if all the forests' trees were pens and all the oceans ink."

This is so beautiful.

Amazingly, I was talking to my dad about this particular lyric when he told me that he had already heard that in a song. He went on the sing to me an old hymn entitled "The Love of God". The third verse goes like this:

"Could we with ink the oceans fill and were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill and every man on earth a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky."

Amazing!

May I quote Solomon: "There is nothing new under the sun!"

I then thought for a while about how the previous generations had similar metaphors and imagery to communicate the nature of God but in a different style. Today, our generation appreciates the same beauty, just in a different style. Interesting.

Also, I love the last track "In a Sweater Poorly Knit". Its like a dream.