Things in Three's

This would be yet another post in which I hijack an idea from facebook. Some of the questions are the ones that have gone around there... some I just made up.

Three Names I answer to:
1. Rachel
2. Rae
3. Rach

The Three Most Interesting Jobs I have had in my Life (and why I list them):
1. Student Worker in Alumni Relations: I got to work various events, including reunion weekend, which involved amazing food, free t-shirts, and the opportunity to drive golf carts. Just for the record, I will always think any opportunity to drive golf carts is amazing. I also did a lot of filing and mailings.
2. Administrative Assistant: It was my first professional, degree required job. I learned more about business, people, and Roman Catholicism in that year and a half than I ever thought possible. I remember my former boss, the people I work with, and the residents with great fondness- it was a growing year for me professionally, but a good year indeed.
3. Grocery Store Cashier: Yes, this made the cut. Why you ask? Because you can learn a lot about people by interacting with them at the grocery store. Especially at the holidays. And this is where I realized I had a knack for details. Like knowing which regular customers smoked what brand of cigarettes.

Three places I have lived:
1. Westminster, MD
2. Baltimore, MD
3. Nyack, NY

Three Favorite drinks
1. Coffee
2. Any type of tea, hot or iced.
3. Coffee. (Really, I would have listed it three times, but I felt I need to acknowledge I do like other beverages.)

Three books I am currently reading:
1. Jesus in Beijing by David Aikman – written by an investigative journalist on the evolution and impact of the house church movement in China.
2. The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis- biography about Ravens Offensive tackle Michael Oher.
3. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bitman- one of the most brilliant cookbooks I have ever read with some phenomenal recipes.
*No, these are not for school (although I discovered Jesus in Beijing from the footnotes of a textbook). And yes, I am reading a cookbook. I’m cool with the nerdiness of that. :)

Three of my favorite things to cook:
1. Quiche. I have my quiche recipe memorized because it’s easy, and I almost always have the ingredients on hand.
2. Pancakes. Whether I am cheating on the batter or making them homemade, they are just fun to make.
3. Roasted root vegetable. Salt, pepper, olive oil, and whole cloves of garlic with chopped root veggies = amazingness.

Three things I'm looking forward to:
1. Seeing Chris Botti in concert this Friday.
2. Seeing my brother at Christmas and meeting his girlfriend Lauren when she comes to town for a few days after Christmas.
3. Graduating from Seminary in May 2012.

Three things I would love to do (and why):
1. Road trip across the United States with a friend. I want to go to other countries, but I feel like I need to know my own a bit better first.
2. Take some classes for fun. Like a pastry class at a culinary school, or a digital photography course. It’d be nice to have hobbies again. J
3. Restore an old house. Yes, I’d need to work with some contractors, but I would love to pick the flooring and put it in. Or sand down the beautiful old banister to see what’s beneath the ugly brown paint. It’d be amazing to live in a home that my blood, sweat, and tears (and I would guarantee the tears) went into.

Three Movies I can watch over and over again:
1. While You Were Sleeping
2. The Italian Job
3. The Fugitive

Top Three Most Played Songs on My Ipod:
1. Defying Gravity
2. Take a Bow
3. Taking Chances

Three Random Thoughts (that have crossed my mind in the last 3 hours):
1. “Why does one of the most amazing chocolate bars have to come with cheesy love poems?”
2. “Will I have time to clean out my car before I travel… or am I just throwing everything in storage in the morning like I usually do?”
3. “Does that say Groove Street? Really, someone named a street Groove Street? Awesome. Nope. It says Grove Street. Lame.”

And, in a hat tip to Thanksgiving this week…

Three Things I am Thankful For:
1. The ways in which the Lord has preserved me and kept me. His grace to me is so evident as look back over parts of my life and see that I am still here.
2. Family (which includes the friends who are family).
3. Chocolate Milk. (Yes, you read that right.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope

There are moments that challenge us. For me, right now it’s dealing with personal issues on several fronts, working, going to school, and having to process the news that one of my favorite professors, Dr. Paul Siu, passed away suddenly over the weekend. Learning of Dr. Siu’s passing seemed like the final blow.

For those of you outside of the Alliance Theological Seminary community reading this, let me introduce you to Dr. Siu for a moment. He was the seminary’s resident theologian, but far from being a stuffy academic, he was one of the most loving, caring people I have ever met. A deep love of Jesus radiated in and through his life. It spilled out in the classroom as he would weep when talking about atonement, as he would boldly proclaim the message of salvation again and again, as he would pray for members of the class and weep with those who were hurting, as he would stop people in the hall just to see how they were doing.

I met Dr. Siu five years ago in August of 2005. He was my advisor, and in addition to the usual academic questions, I also remember a friendly barrage of pastoral questions as we met that afternoon. Eventually, I switched programs, and advisors, but Dr. Siu continued to follow my progress. My office used to be housed the seminary building, and I’ll never forget one afternoon when he stopped in to see me. He wanted to check on me, and he made it a point to remind me that day how proud he was of me- that I was still in seminary, and that I was doing so well. Dr. Siu was one of favorite cheerleaders and he is one of the ones who helped convince me to stay in seminary when I was ready to pack it in and head back to Maryland after having done so poorly my first year. Just last week I had decided to ask for his assistance in preparing for my doctorate after seminary. I am planning on studying theology, and I was excited to talk through my plans with him.

I don’t understand why things are as they are. Why so many situations in my life have gone haywire all at once in ways that devastate me. Why a beloved professor passed from this life to the next so very suddenly. But the Lord, in His gentleness and His kindness whispered this in my ear this morning, and so I share it with you, “But now, this is what the Lord says- he who created you, Jacob; he who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” Isaiah 43:1-2

I am the Lord’s, and in Him, and Him alone does my hope rest. I will not understand some of the things that occur in this life, but I have to believe in a God who is bigger and greater and in control. He’s all I have. This God who has called me by name, this salvation that He brings, this love He fills us with. When I have nothing, I still have hope in the God of the Universe. Dr. Paul Siu’s God whom he loved so passionately and served so humbly. And so I, like the Israelites before me who heard the proclamation of Isaiah will not fear. Instead I will hope.