This past weekend, David and Anna got married. It was truly a great weekend. David has been my closest friend and brother for my whole life, and it was an honor to be there to see him marry another amazing person in Anna.
The whole weekend was fun. The bachelor party was on Thursday night (a truly memorable evening), and then a group of guys went to Dave and Busters on Friday night. The wedding was on Saturday, and then some of us went out to eat, back to Dave and Busters, and then just did spontaneous crazy things the rest of the night. The next day was a Tigers-Indians game, and then I went home. The next day, I went to hang out with the one and only Elizabeth Milian, and then had to come back to reality (babysitting and work). It was a great time!
One other upside was that I didn't hear too many "You're next" or "So how does it feel to be the last Van Hal to be married" comments! Seeing all my friends and family was great, but celebrating my brother's union with Anna made the whole weekend fun.
I'm very thankful that I have such a great family, and such a great brother in David! I'm so glad Anna is now a part of our family, and I look forward to seeing what they do together!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Life
Well, it's been about a week since I've written anything, so I thought this would be a good time to update.
I've been working a lot. At work, there are many people who speak Arabic and not much English. Some of my favorite people are Basim, his wife Rasha, and their two children Samar and Mohammed. Also, there is Samir, Fatima, and Omar. And of course the 12 year old kid named Mamadee who helps me pack everything up (the only one of them who speaks good English). Also, I often sit and talk to Eddy, the Bosnian maintenance worker at the apartments.
I've been learning Arabic from Basim, and I've started teaching English to Samir. They are both what they call "bad Muslims." In other words, they drink and don't go to the Mosque. I'm hoping we can all learn from each other and consider each other friends, despite the language barrier.
A couple days ago, I picked up a guy named Kenny who was homeless and wanted a ride downtown. I don't usually do what many consider witnessing, but I asked him if I could pray for him about anything. He never really answered, but we started talking about God, and He asked why God didn't make himself obvious. I told him I thought it was because he wanted to truly love us and for us to truly love him. I told him that I would pray that in the next week, he would have an encounter with God in some way. I hope he does and is transformed!
About 6 weeks until I leave for Jerusalem. It's hard to believe! In this summer so far, I am praying for God to develop in me humility, service, and gratitude. Service is easy to plan for, which means it should be the most evident. Gratitude and humility should be reactions, but are often not eminent.
That's about it. Stay classy, San Diego.
I've been working a lot. At work, there are many people who speak Arabic and not much English. Some of my favorite people are Basim, his wife Rasha, and their two children Samar and Mohammed. Also, there is Samir, Fatima, and Omar. And of course the 12 year old kid named Mamadee who helps me pack everything up (the only one of them who speaks good English). Also, I often sit and talk to Eddy, the Bosnian maintenance worker at the apartments.
I've been learning Arabic from Basim, and I've started teaching English to Samir. They are both what they call "bad Muslims." In other words, they drink and don't go to the Mosque. I'm hoping we can all learn from each other and consider each other friends, despite the language barrier.
A couple days ago, I picked up a guy named Kenny who was homeless and wanted a ride downtown. I don't usually do what many consider witnessing, but I asked him if I could pray for him about anything. He never really answered, but we started talking about God, and He asked why God didn't make himself obvious. I told him I thought it was because he wanted to truly love us and for us to truly love him. I told him that I would pray that in the next week, he would have an encounter with God in some way. I hope he does and is transformed!
About 6 weeks until I leave for Jerusalem. It's hard to believe! In this summer so far, I am praying for God to develop in me humility, service, and gratitude. Service is easy to plan for, which means it should be the most evident. Gratitude and humility should be reactions, but are often not eminent.
That's about it. Stay classy, San Diego.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Burnt
Well, there truly can be too much of a good thing. This is something I learned a couple days ago.
On Saturday, I went to the beach with some friends. Unfortunately, I forgot that my body is very white and that there is a big ball of fire in the sky trying to kill me (which it almost did). I came home that night with two things on my mind: First, that my body felt like it was thrown into the great lake of fire, and second, that I told my friend Julia I'd go back out to the beach the next day. I was going to be tortured yet again (in all truth, I was very excited to go, and was kicking myself that I put myself in this predicament).
Long story short, I had so much fun the next day that I decided to go back again today, and now my face has begun to peel. Oh well, it's the price to have fun... and not be smart.
Anyway, I am not in pain anymore, and I had a great long weekend. And this is going to be a great week. Having friends in Grand Rapids is great (great. great.). I am thankful for all of them, but especially the ones who are willing to spend time with a poor Seminary student who sometimes forgets how to be fun around people (a downfall of studying and reading too many books).
On Saturday, I went to the beach with some friends. Unfortunately, I forgot that my body is very white and that there is a big ball of fire in the sky trying to kill me (which it almost did). I came home that night with two things on my mind: First, that my body felt like it was thrown into the great lake of fire, and second, that I told my friend Julia I'd go back out to the beach the next day. I was going to be tortured yet again (in all truth, I was very excited to go, and was kicking myself that I put myself in this predicament).
Long story short, I had so much fun the next day that I decided to go back again today, and now my face has begun to peel. Oh well, it's the price to have fun... and not be smart.
Anyway, I am not in pain anymore, and I had a great long weekend. And this is going to be a great week. Having friends in Grand Rapids is great (great. great.). I am thankful for all of them, but especially the ones who are willing to spend time with a poor Seminary student who sometimes forgets how to be fun around people (a downfall of studying and reading too many books).
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Arrested Development
Arrested Development is the name of the greatest show of all time.
But even more than that, it is a description of something that happens usually when someone has a traumatic experience. In a nutshell, the person has a traumatic experience, and their development in a certain area stops. Often, their lives will look completely normal until they have an experience that triggers the area of the arrested development, in which case they will revert back to the way they would have acted in the first place. In other words, they stop growing.
Note: this is actually a very personal blog post. I told myself I would hold very little back, and I felt I needed to write this, since this is basically my personal journal right now... Also, I don't think anybody actually reads this. Which is fine.
I recently realized that I had arrested development in a certain area. Six years ago, I was very open to spiritual things. I loved trying to hear from God, I loved prophecy, I loved God speaking to me and I loved listening and soaking in His presence. This was an area of my life in which I was growing every day. Then, I experienced arrested development of this area.
When my closest friend at college, April Nettles, died, I was devastated; I even fell into depression. God soon delivered me from the depression, but since then I have viewed my Christianity as a much more practical enterprise. This hasn't been all bad; there are certainly great Christian principles that are regulated simply to practical dogmatic life. However, what I didn't realize was that my spiritual hunger was slowly evaporating. I didn't realize it, that is, until two days ago.
A couple weeks ago, my friend Halsey Preston invited me to a prayer meeting in which people worshiped, prayed for each other, and prophesied over each other. I accepted for a number of different reasons: I have very little friends in the area, I was curious as to what that would look like, and I hadn't been to anything like that in years. So, I went. The first week was a little weird for me, a little out of my comfort zone. But the second week, I started realizing the full effects of the traumatic experience, the arrested development, I had 6 years ago.
At one point in the meeting two days ago, I realized that I have been purposefully ignoring God. I have grown attached to theology and stayed away from any kind of experience with God, even to the point of doubting whether these experiences were from God at all. Since April's death, I've started to ignore anything supernatural.
Subconsciously, I attached spiritual growth to April, and a little while after she died, I subconsciously tried to steer clear of anything that reminded me of her. So whenever I was faced with the choice to worship God, or to experience God in some way, I stayed away from it.
I'll be honest, for the most part I hate Christian music, and even further I hate the epitome of Christian music: Michael W. Smith. But I remember a song of his from many years ago that talks of a child who loved God with all his heart, and then there's a line that says, "I've been searching for that missing person." I feel like that. I feel like I've lost a big part of who I am, of who God has been calling me to be. I can only pray that He has mercy on me for my actions, and that He will grant me the grace to grow once again.
But the good news is that now I can grow again, thanks to the mercy of Christ.
But even more than that, it is a description of something that happens usually when someone has a traumatic experience. In a nutshell, the person has a traumatic experience, and their development in a certain area stops. Often, their lives will look completely normal until they have an experience that triggers the area of the arrested development, in which case they will revert back to the way they would have acted in the first place. In other words, they stop growing.
Note: this is actually a very personal blog post. I told myself I would hold very little back, and I felt I needed to write this, since this is basically my personal journal right now... Also, I don't think anybody actually reads this. Which is fine.
I recently realized that I had arrested development in a certain area. Six years ago, I was very open to spiritual things. I loved trying to hear from God, I loved prophecy, I loved God speaking to me and I loved listening and soaking in His presence. This was an area of my life in which I was growing every day. Then, I experienced arrested development of this area.
When my closest friend at college, April Nettles, died, I was devastated; I even fell into depression. God soon delivered me from the depression, but since then I have viewed my Christianity as a much more practical enterprise. This hasn't been all bad; there are certainly great Christian principles that are regulated simply to practical dogmatic life. However, what I didn't realize was that my spiritual hunger was slowly evaporating. I didn't realize it, that is, until two days ago.
A couple weeks ago, my friend Halsey Preston invited me to a prayer meeting in which people worshiped, prayed for each other, and prophesied over each other. I accepted for a number of different reasons: I have very little friends in the area, I was curious as to what that would look like, and I hadn't been to anything like that in years. So, I went. The first week was a little weird for me, a little out of my comfort zone. But the second week, I started realizing the full effects of the traumatic experience, the arrested development, I had 6 years ago.
At one point in the meeting two days ago, I realized that I have been purposefully ignoring God. I have grown attached to theology and stayed away from any kind of experience with God, even to the point of doubting whether these experiences were from God at all. Since April's death, I've started to ignore anything supernatural.
Subconsciously, I attached spiritual growth to April, and a little while after she died, I subconsciously tried to steer clear of anything that reminded me of her. So whenever I was faced with the choice to worship God, or to experience God in some way, I stayed away from it.
I'll be honest, for the most part I hate Christian music, and even further I hate the epitome of Christian music: Michael W. Smith. But I remember a song of his from many years ago that talks of a child who loved God with all his heart, and then there's a line that says, "I've been searching for that missing person." I feel like that. I feel like I've lost a big part of who I am, of who God has been calling me to be. I can only pray that He has mercy on me for my actions, and that He will grant me the grace to grow once again.
But the good news is that now I can grow again, thanks to the mercy of Christ.
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