Hello, friends!
Greetings from beautiful Omaha, Nebraska!
Wait a second, I'm not supposed to be in Omaha... I'm supposed to be in College Station! What happened?! Did I miss my flight? Am I no longer working for InterVarsity? Did I get in a fight with the staff and Texas A&M and decide to go home early?
Nope! I just got rained out.
Tropical Storm Imelda wreaked a bunch of havoc on the great state of Texas yesterday. One of the areas hit hardest was Houston, including the airport, where something like 900 flights were cancelled in and out of Houston Hobby.
My original plan was to fly out of Omaha at 11:30, get to Houston by 3, and have enough time to rent a car and make the 2 hour drive to College Station by 6:30 for bible study. Here's what actually happened:
10:45am - get in line to board the plane
11:00am - told that all flights to Houston have been grounded and we'll have an update in an hour
12:00pm - back in line to board the plane
12:15pm - on the plane, with a whole row to myself since it wasn't a full flight
12:30pm - told that the flight had been grounded again and that there would be another update in an hour. We could get off the plane if we wanted so we weren't stuck in our seats but we needed to stay close because once we got the OK to go, we were going to go.
12:50pm - finished the crossword on the in-flight magazine
1:05pm - exit the plane and take a few laps around the airport terminal to stretch my legs
1:15pm - back on the plane
1:45pm - the flight is officially cancelled; exit the plane and get in line to see if I can catch another flight
2:30pm - my 3 options are to either get into Houston Friday @ 10pm (much too late), fly into San Antonio just before Midnight on Thursday night then drive 3 hours to College Station (much too tiring), or cancel the trip and try again next semester.
Thankfully, I was able to cancel my rental car and get a full refund on the flight. The only thing the trip really cost me was one night's stay at the hotel in College Station since it was too late to cancel that reservation without penalty. All said and done, I'll take that.
So, we'll try again next semester. It's certainly not the worst thing that could have happened. After seeing all the rain and flooding that hit Houston, there's a good chance that I would have been stranded at the airport anyway, which would have been a huge bummer. I'll take the time I should have been at College Station and use it instead to play with my kids and pray for the city of Houston.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Friday, September 20, 2019
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Onward to Aggie-land!
Hello, friends!
If everything goes according to plan, I'll be blogging next week as part of my normal posting schedule. Knowing how life works and certain that things will NOT go according to plan, I'm going to post about what's happening next week and we'll go from there. =0).
One of my jobs is as director of an evangelism project for InterVarsity's Asian American Ministries (AAM). I was part of an AAM chapter at WashU (Go Bears!), planted an AAM Chapter at Mizzou (#ACFFTW), and have been Asian American for my entire life, so the opportunity to do something directly with the AAM department had a lot of appeal.
My project centers around working with AAM chapters in reaching secular AA organizations on campus, focusing on collaborative events as a way to build relationship and open students up to Jesus. Oftentimes, especially at predominantly white institutions (PWI's), reaching AA students can be a tough go because they are so spread out around campus. AA secular organizations (like the Asian American Association, Korean Student Association, etc.) is a great mission field for AAM chapters because lots of AA students are all concentrated in one place.
The two AAM Chapters I'm working with are at Texas A&M and The Ohio State University. The group at OSU is focusing on the Khmer Student Association (KHSA) and A&M is reaching the Filipino Student Association (FilSA) on campus. It's been a ton of fun working with these students and staff and seeing the ways that they are building relationships with other groups on campus.
Next weekend, I'll get to visit A&M and do a little "on the ground" observation and training. I'm looking forward to meeting with the students, doing some training, eating some tasty food, and generally being the "fun uncle" who pays for a bunch of things while he's in town. I'd like to think that role suits me well. =0).
Friends, I'd love your prayer next weekend as I travel. Here are a few specific ways to pray.
- Journey's mercies. My travel includes a flight into Houston and a 2 hour drive to College Station from there. Please pray for good weather, good roads, and a generally pleasant travel experience.
- Student connection. I'm excited to be back in the think of things with students again. Please pray not only that I'll be able to meet students but that I'll be able to connect those students to InterVarsity students so when I leave, relationship can continue.
- Family. I'll be leaving Thursday morning and coming back Saturday afternoon, so that'll be a good chunk of time that Meg will be riding solo with the kids. Please pray for rest for her and naps for them.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
If everything goes according to plan, I'll be blogging next week as part of my normal posting schedule. Knowing how life works and certain that things will NOT go according to plan, I'm going to post about what's happening next week and we'll go from there. =0).
One of my jobs is as director of an evangelism project for InterVarsity's Asian American Ministries (AAM). I was part of an AAM chapter at WashU (Go Bears!), planted an AAM Chapter at Mizzou (#ACFFTW), and have been Asian American for my entire life, so the opportunity to do something directly with the AAM department had a lot of appeal.
My project centers around working with AAM chapters in reaching secular AA organizations on campus, focusing on collaborative events as a way to build relationship and open students up to Jesus. Oftentimes, especially at predominantly white institutions (PWI's), reaching AA students can be a tough go because they are so spread out around campus. AA secular organizations (like the Asian American Association, Korean Student Association, etc.) is a great mission field for AAM chapters because lots of AA students are all concentrated in one place.
The two AAM Chapters I'm working with are at Texas A&M and The Ohio State University. The group at OSU is focusing on the Khmer Student Association (KHSA) and A&M is reaching the Filipino Student Association (FilSA) on campus. It's been a ton of fun working with these students and staff and seeing the ways that they are building relationships with other groups on campus.
Next weekend, I'll get to visit A&M and do a little "on the ground" observation and training. I'm looking forward to meeting with the students, doing some training, eating some tasty food, and generally being the "fun uncle" who pays for a bunch of things while he's in town. I'd like to think that role suits me well. =0).
Friends, I'd love your prayer next weekend as I travel. Here are a few specific ways to pray.
- Journey's mercies. My travel includes a flight into Houston and a 2 hour drive to College Station from there. Please pray for good weather, good roads, and a generally pleasant travel experience.
- Student connection. I'm excited to be back in the think of things with students again. Please pray not only that I'll be able to meet students but that I'll be able to connect those students to InterVarsity students so when I leave, relationship can continue.
- Family. I'll be leaving Thursday morning and coming back Saturday afternoon, so that'll be a good chunk of time that Meg will be riding solo with the kids. Please pray for rest for her and naps for them.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
It's Curling Season!
Hello, friends!
If you know me, you know that I have a number of different loves in my life. I love Jesus. I love my wife and my kids. I love my family. I love the St. Louis Cardinals. I love biking. I love a lot of things. You probably also know that I love curling.
What is curling? I'm glad you asked! Allow me (or rather, this 2 minute video) to explain!
Look, I'm not saying I'm obsessed with curling. I'm just saying that I may or may not have driven from Columbia to Kansas City to go curling on occasion. And I may or may not have gone to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 to watch curling. And it's possible that in Vancouver I had a conversation with the parents of an Olympic curler and the mother complemented me on my knowledge of curling and it may or may not have been one of the greatest complements I've ever received. And maybe I was up late yelling at the TV in 2018 when the US Men's team started the tournament 1-4 and won 6 straight matches to claim the gold.
However, what I am saying is that it is now curling season at the Aksarben Curling Club here in Omaha, and I am ready to go! I'm by no means a great curler but I'm ready to go!
At this point, you may be asking yourself, "Self, how did a Southern California boy get into a winter sport like curling?!" The answer, my friends, is Fred Roggin.
Fred Roggin is the sportscaster for KNBC Channel 4 in Southern California. During the 2002 Nagano Olympics, which was broadcast by NBC, Fred Roggin was in charge of the curling coverage. My brother and I, recognizing Fred, decided to watch some curling. I wasn't hooked quite then but by 2006, I had caught the curling bug.
Omaha has a curling club, and in my unbiased opinion, it rocks (Get it?)! This will be my third season curling with them and I'm ready to go. Curling teams are teams of 4. My friend Doug (pictured above) and I got randomly paired together when we first started in the Spring of 2018. The other 2 on our team have switched each season (and will be switching again this season) but we're still good to go. I'll be helping with the instructional league in September then our official league will start up in October. It's so close I can feel it! Hooray for curling! =0).
There is probably the question floating in your head right now as to what me curling has to do with ministry. The answer is that it probably doesn't a ton. However, there is some connection. Much like OBC, curling has been one of the things that has made Omaha feel like home. I know I do better work when I feel like I'm in a stable place and thriving. It seems kind of silly, but knowing that I have a few hours each week where I can do something I love and have fun is pretty great.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
If you know me, you know that I have a number of different loves in my life. I love Jesus. I love my wife and my kids. I love my family. I love the St. Louis Cardinals. I love biking. I love a lot of things. You probably also know that I love curling.
What is curling? I'm glad you asked! Allow me (or rather, this 2 minute video) to explain!
Look, I'm not saying I'm obsessed with curling. I'm just saying that I may or may not have driven from Columbia to Kansas City to go curling on occasion. And I may or may not have gone to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 to watch curling. And it's possible that in Vancouver I had a conversation with the parents of an Olympic curler and the mother complemented me on my knowledge of curling and it may or may not have been one of the greatest complements I've ever received. And maybe I was up late yelling at the TV in 2018 when the US Men's team started the tournament 1-4 and won 6 straight matches to claim the gold.
However, what I am saying is that it is now curling season at the Aksarben Curling Club here in Omaha, and I am ready to go! I'm by no means a great curler but I'm ready to go!
At this point, you may be asking yourself, "Self, how did a Southern California boy get into a winter sport like curling?!" The answer, my friends, is Fred Roggin.
Fred Roggin is the sportscaster for KNBC Channel 4 in Southern California. During the 2002 Nagano Olympics, which was broadcast by NBC, Fred Roggin was in charge of the curling coverage. My brother and I, recognizing Fred, decided to watch some curling. I wasn't hooked quite then but by 2006, I had caught the curling bug.
Omaha has a curling club, and in my unbiased opinion, it rocks (Get it?)! This will be my third season curling with them and I'm ready to go. Curling teams are teams of 4. My friend Doug (pictured above) and I got randomly paired together when we first started in the Spring of 2018. The other 2 on our team have switched each season (and will be switching again this season) but we're still good to go. I'll be helping with the instructional league in September then our official league will start up in October. It's so close I can feel it! Hooray for curling! =0).
There is probably the question floating in your head right now as to what me curling has to do with ministry. The answer is that it probably doesn't a ton. However, there is some connection. Much like OBC, curling has been one of the things that has made Omaha feel like home. I know I do better work when I feel like I'm in a stable place and thriving. It seems kind of silly, but knowing that I have a few hours each week where I can do something I love and have fun is pretty great.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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