Hints

So life is super busy. I am now playing in Elysium, a Mars Hill worship band. Between practice, meetings, and playing, my free time is disappearing.

On top of that I have been accepted into grad school at SPU and am busy filling out all the necessary items to make that work.

For the time being I'd like to use this blog to keep record of the notes/lyrics/songs/writings in my journal.

Page 1

After all, war must be a little wicked because it costs money.




Judas, you had it all.
Why did you want more?


Page 2
Digging my own grave
Just to be buried
Your words the weapon
Your actions the blade

My dying thoughts
Continually bleed
Over this page

The wound digs deep
The pain increasingly
Takes hold

My memory faded
My bones exposed
Ideas left to rot
Over pages and time

Return Our Lives

I have finished my personal statement for an application to SPU. I found it to be an interesting summation of where I have been and where I intend to go.

Discourse is the method by which we as individuals are able to share ideas in community. Ideas are the methods by which we come to understand our personal worldview. Thus, ideological discourse is an integral part of continued community. In short, this concept is the crux of my desire to continue my education. While completing my bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the University of Washington, I had the opportunity to be a Christian voice in a community willing to give and take ideas. During this time, I had many positive experiences in which I was able to present a Christian outlook to my peers. Despite these experiences, I fully acknowledge how much work is left to be done in my Christian thinking and my personal relationship with Jesus.

I grew up in a Christian home; my parents were and still are heavily involved in the same church. While I ‘accepted’ Christ into my heart at a very young age, a relationship with Him did not fully make sense until I began Junior High. At this point, a few Godly youth leaders invested a great amount of time into helping me understand that Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross gave us this gift of salvation by grace. Upon realizing this, I began to study the scripture intently and to build a relationship with Jesus through faith. While these internal changes started to happen, the same Godly leaders began discipling me in apologetics. I was immediately drawn to this study due to its way of explaining that distance between faith and reason is not as far as others would lead us to think. When I was accepted into the University of Washington, my foundation in apologetics led me to study philosophy. I enjoyed studying Philosophy as an undergraduate because the Christian Worldview held an equal amount of weight as the rest of the worldviews at the table.

My undergraduate years also mark a significant shift in my Christian walk. The church of my youth held a mildly fundamentalist stance in culture and thus I went to college viewing my classmates as enemies in a culture war. However, as I began to dialogue with them, I came to see the ‘us vs. them’ ideology as detrimental to furthering God’s Kingdom. I found myself viewing unbelievers as a project and not a person whom God loves deeply. I saw myself trying to change the morality of a person before they had a change of heart. In other words, my unbelieving friends needed to know the Jesus of the Bible before they could change their immoral exterior actions. This epiphany led to a shift in my view of culture. Where my prior belief was that culture needed to be changed and ‘Christianized’, I began to believe that culture had the capacity to be redeemed. To put it differently, instead of rejecting all things secular, I started to focus on Christian elements that existed within secular culture. Whether it is creation, fall, redemption, or glorification, I found that everyone was pursuing something that could be considered a partial truth of the Christian worldview. In this way, I slightly shifted my worldview without changing my beliefs concerning scripture. With my friends, I focused on trying to find Jesus within the culture that my friends presented. Secondly, I focused more specifically on the saving power of Christ and less on the immoralities in their actions with the expectation that if my friends became Christians, the morality discussion would ensue. Due to these circumstances, my Christian walk changed from an ‘us vs. them’ mentality to a redeeming culture mentality.

In terms of career goals, I have a few options. On one hand, I would love to continue my education and receive a Ph.D. I have the desire to teach at a high level and would enjoy administrating discussion on topics in which I have expertise. If I were to take this career path, I would have a goal to develop a Systematic Theological curriculum that can be understood by the newest of Christians. Likewise, I would love to pursue creative avenues in which Theology can be introduced. Whether through fiction, poetry, film, painting or music, some of my favorite works have clear Theological foundations. Whether I become a professor, high school teacher, or pastor, I aspire to open the doors of reasonable faith to others similarly to how they opened to me when I was thirteen years old.

On the other hand, I have a strong desire to begin a career in the non-profit sector. For this reason I am drawn towards the study of Theology and Business. I love the concept of Business as Missions and the practice of investing capital into people in need rather than increasing profit margins. It is my goal to bring the notion of ‘Acts of Mercy and Justice’ to the business world. I want to be a wise steward of the money in which God has entrusted me. Too often we get complacent in our urban centers and focus on who has more money than us rather than how we can live within our means in order to free up money that can help someone who is less fortunate. In this career path, my ultimate goal would be to help educate corporate America to invest in people over a bottom line.

In conclusion, as I continue my education, I am intrigued at the possibility of learning the different Philosophies that exist within the realm of Theology. I understand the differences between Armenians and Calvinists, Reformed and Dispensationalists, but it is my goal to learn how both conclusions are made, presented, rebutted, and revised. It is my hope to apply my education in a relational way whether I pursue the career of an educator or a career in the non-profit sector.

In My Arms

Hello. I'm Donovan.

I married a beautiful girl named Tara. She started a blog and I love her.

We are starting to settle into our lives together and it is exciting to see how our lives are becoming one. In June, I received a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy from the University of Washington. In September, I started working as an Audio Visual Technician for Audio Visual Factory which is based in Kent. While I don't mind my job, it is not what I believe my career will be. This job is a good place to gain experience in a field in which I have interest. However, I am hoping to make it into Graduate school. I'm thinking of getting a Masters of Theology degree. Life is fun right now and we'll see where it leads.

Whether philosophical, theological, poetry, photography, or music, I'll use this blog to post my ideas.

In the beginning...

I'm not much of a blogger so we'll see how long this lasts... :)

I decided to start a joint blog for my husband, Donovan, and myself to document our lives as newlyweds, whatever that documentation may be. I'm pretty straightforward and Donovan is more, shall we say, deep. So there could be quite a contrast between our posts if we both decide to use this.

Here goes nothing.

I've spent the last three or four days of my life in organization mode. As a newlywed (three months in!) I've started nesting, which is weird and wonderful all at once. My husband, Donovan, and I are in the process of making a rented condo into our home, despite the fact that we'll be moving on when our lease is up in August.

I spent hours on design/decorating blogs this past weekend getting inspiration. It made me realize that before we can even begin to figure out what sort of mood we want for our home I have to get organized and get the junk out of here. I spent most of the daylight hours of saturday in my pajamas cleaning, throwing away stuff that's been sitting in boxes for years (I have been SUCH a pack-rat and I refuse to let that continue!), and consolidating. I got quite a bit done and while there is still to so much to do I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We finally bought a dresser tonight. Or put one of hold, that is. Barring any obstacles, we should be the owners of a dark walnut finish dresser on Saturday! We can finally clear the piles of clothes of our love seat and, more importantly, we will finally feel like our place is presentable enough to have invite people over...since it seems everyone wants to see the place and I have been scared, thus far, to let them in since there was so much clutter. Thank you to Donovan's parents for this much needed wedding gift that will finally start to bring this place together!

Here's to the coming days, months, and years of my life as one half of a whole. I can't wait.

-Tara