epiphany

Farewell to Redmond

Today was my last day playing keyboards for Redeemer Redmond, a new PCA church on the east side of Lake Washington. I've been helping out there since the beginning of October, but now my choir at Mars Hill will be singing at each of the services until Christmas. I've learned a lot musically these past two months. I'm going to miss playing with my little group.

I wish them farewell with one of my favorite songs from there,

Ever Will I Praise
text by Sarah Hart; music by Nathan Partain
(sample music file available here)

When my heart is overcome by the dark, dead night,
I will place my trust in you, in you I will delight.
For you alone can be my shelter, you alone my strength;
So be there through the darkness, I'll exalt your holy name.

Ever will I praise, O ever will I praise;
Heart of my life, Lord of my days,
Ever will I praise!

Though the road seems all uphill, and I'm growing tired,
I will fix my eyes updon your rod to be my guide.
For you alone can be my Shepherd, you alone my rest;
So be there in my weakness, I shall stand and call you blessed.

Ever will I praise, O ever will I praise;
Heart of my life, Lord of my days,
Ever will I praise!

Who would've thought that you had a love for us?
Who would've thought that you would run to us?
Who would've thought that you'd five yourself for us?

Ever will I praise, O ever will I praise;
Heart of my life, Lord of my days,
Ever will I praise!
Ever will I praise, O ever will I praise;
Heart of my life, Lord of my days,
Ever will I praise!

You are the heart of my life, Lord of my days,
Ever will I praise.

Africa Photos

After plenty of time, I'm ready to take you on a brief tour of Africa.

We'll start out flying over the Sahara Desert, which is HUGE. We're talking ocean-huge. I looked out the plane window at the northern edge of the desert, shortly after we'd left the Mediterranean Sea behind. Several hours later, I looked out the window again, and we were still over the Sahara Desert.

Our first afternoon in Kenya, we took a safari at the game park just outside the city.

We saw a variety of animals, including lots of zebras, cape buffalo, wildebeasts, ostriches, and giraffes. We also saw several eland (the one with the buildings in the background) and a hippo, though none of my photos of him turned out.

Coming back from the ride, I had to figure out how to deal with this crazy, windfed creature.

From Nairobi, we flew to Kigali, Rwanda for a day. More than 1,100,000 people, over 10% of the population died in the four hundred days of genocide back in 1994 while the rest of the world did nothing. 260,000 people are buried in mass graves at the Genocide Museum (which is top notch and very disturbing). Eleven years after the horrors, they're still finding bodies.

We spent the majority of our time in Lusaka, Zambia. There are no flights between Rwanda and Zambia, so we had to transit through Nairobi again. The flight from Nairobi did offer views of Kilimanjaro, which I wouldn't have seen otherwise. I liked Lusaka a lot. One doctor described it as "Africa for beginners." Unlike Nairobi, the city was generally quite clean, had good roads, and appeared safe--at least in our neighborhood. We stayed at a really nice hotel with great views and wonderful landscaping. Most of the flower photos come from there. I do want to point out the slightly blurry picture with the tree trunks. The ground is red a purple, thanks to the dropping petals of the trees' flowers. Those trees are the size of elms or skinny oaks, and the entire tops were completely covered in blossoms. Also, careful with the second all green shot--the file is a little large because I wanted to show off the detail.

Probably the greatest treat for me came on the flight home. Ever since my first flight across the Atlantic Ocean back in 1998, I've been wanting to see Greenland. Unfortunately, the northern Atlantic has been clouded over every single flight. Until this one. The skies cleared over the east coast of Greenland, and I was able to watch the icy wonder for quite a while. The land is magnificent: all mountains and glaciers. It was fascinating to see visible differentiation between the snow sitting on top and the glaciers beneath. I could even see icebergs frozen in the fjords. Beautiful.

I'm Off to See the Wizard!

My showing of Harry Potter 4 starts in less than an hour! :-)

Looking for Poetry

I was reading an inspirational hymn text this evening and came up with a great tune. Unfortunately, the tune is a good bit longer than the text, and I'm having trouble finding something that fits that I like. Anyone have any good texts based in an 8.7.8.7.7.7.7.7 meter? I've found a whopping total of one.

7.7.7.7.D will do if I have to go that route.

And Not So

Today was going fairly well when late in the afternoon, I contracted a bad case of the lonlies. Various factors influenced it, but none should have made it as strong as it's been.

I'm tired of being alone. I don't mind doing things by myself, as that's usually my only option. Sometimes I quite enjoy it. But attending events alone is futile. Lasting enjoyment comes from sharing an experience, being able to resurrect the good through collaborative retelling. Unfortunately, I really don't have anyone to share experiences with. I do have friends in the area, but my closest friends are married and have responsibilities at home.

I often think about moving. But that wouldn't appear to solve the problem, as I don't have any particular place to move. Of course, as I'm not doing anything with friends here, I could not do anything with friends just about anywhere. And it would probably be less expensive. ;-)

The truth is, I want a place to belong. Not just to live, but to belong. While I'm looking forward to the End and the beauty to follow, I have to admit I don't have the patience to wait for it. If eternal life is a "quality" ("not a quantity"), as is commonly proclaimed, and my present life is a reflection of that quality, I can't say I would want it much. Talk about a disappointment! "Hanneman . . . Hanneman. Lets see: Betty, Bob, Grace . . . Ah, yes, here we are! 'Jonathan.' Well, Jonathan (do you prefer 'Jon' or 'Jonathan'?) for your reward, you get to live alone in an apartment and share your thoughts (and lack of experiences) via digital formats. Forever. Have a nice eternity. (Bwah! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!)"

So I don't much buy the "quality" claim. At least not yet. What I do know is that, as a believer, eternal life is going to be much better than this. The Bible says that Jesus will wipe away all tears. As an introspective/depressive type, I find that part of heaven incomprehensible. I can grasp at the loose edges of perfection. I can see how eternal enjoyment could work. But life without sadness I just can't imagine. Everything I see I see tainted with sorrow, pain, and empty longing. I try to remember childhood, a time before I could see the evil in the world (or understood its power). I imagine that that's what heaven is like. I know that there was such a time in my life. I know I had many years of happiness. But time and seeing have a way of eroding and defacing the past. Even the purest of memories grow pitted and worn over the years.

Heaven will be the great undoing, the Great Forgetting. Sin gone. Sorrow gone. Fullness of joy. Perfect communion. Unbelieveable. Our desperate hope. Our certainty.

But for now, waiting seems to be the order of the day. Whether or not I have the patience, whether or not I'm lonely, whether or not I want to wait, wait I must, and wait I will.

"Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly."

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Blessed Hope
- a song from Mars Hill Church

When you come, will you take all of me?
When you come, you will bend every knee.
You will roll back the sky, and the stars will fall,
And every tongue confess.

When you come, I will be quiet in your love.
When you come, will you take me above
To leave the lust, leave the flesh,
Leave the pride of life,
To see forever clearly?

The mountains will dance
And the trees clap their hands;
The Savior will wipe away all tears from our eyes.

When you come, you will make all things new.
You will draw all who thirst unto you.
You will dwell "God with us"--Emmanuel,
And you will sing over us.

The mountains will dance
And the trees clap their hands;
The Savior will wipe away all tears from our eyes.

The trumpet shall sound,
And the Lord will descend:
Forever with us, forever with him.

The mountains will dance
And the trees clap their hands;
The Savior will wipe away all tears from our eyes.

Holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.
Holy is the Lord.
Holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.
Holy is the Lord.

Happy to Me

I had today off, my first day off since October 24. It was great.

***************
Thanks to a temperature experiment last night, I successfully and comfortably slept in without my heaters clicking and pinging at ungodly hours (solution: keep the bedroom thermostat down while slightly raising the livingroom thermostat).

I bought my tickets for a flight home at Christmas (Delta, as both Northwest and United were being unreasonably expensive).

I enjoyed some Smarties chocolates (thanks, Suz).

I messed around with my computer, including installing two gigs of RAM (no more straining when running high-powered programs).

I worked on a song (no comment yet).

I bought my ticket for the opening day of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (opening next Friday--can't wait!).

And I went to dinner at a restaurant I've been wanting to try (Thaiku).

***************

Overall, a very, very enjoyable day. Expensive, but enjoyable. :-)

Red Eye Squared

I was awake nearly 48 hours at the end of the trip. We had an overnight flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam and then an overnight (according to the Pacific time zone) from Amsterdam to Seattle. My eyes were horribly red, so much so that I thought the US customs officials might test me for drugs or something. But I didn't have any problems at the checkpoints. Once I arrived home, I had to do laundry, as I was completely out of t-shirts.

Then I slept for 12 hours.

This morning, my eyes are again a healthy white.

Return to the Amsterdam Airport

We're back in Amsterdam with a five hour layover between our flight from Nairobi and our flight to Seattle.

Quick trip summary:

Nairobi, Kenya: OK in general, but not my favorite place. Got to visit the game park one afternoon--saw a hippo(!)

Kigali, Rwanda: personal opinion is that it's nicer than Nairobi, although all the roads aren't paved yet. However, the paved roads are really nice. Sad history, promising future.

Lusaka, Zambia: I shot five+ hours of tape in roughly two days, if that's any indicator. The city is quite clean. It's kind of halfway between Nairobi and Kigali: the cleanliness of Kigali with some extra metro opportunities, like Nairobi. We stayed in a fabulous hotel. It was hot but dry and breezy. I liked Lusaka a lot.

Enough internet for now. I'll post some photos once I'm settled in again in the US.