Late-night thought

Sore throats are bothersome. Sore throats that last more than three days are even more so.

In other news, I'm nowhere near ready for the Puget Sound tournament, but it will be a blast nevertheless. :)

Hope everyone is doing well, especially those of you who are far away. :) Through rain, and shine... and my personal favorite, rain and sunshine :)

Goodnight!

Pictures from Idaho

Life goes on. What a bother.

There's nothing more entertaining than having to continue through life when you want to take a breather. Unfortunately life never gets tired or wants to take a break. It's rather inconvenient.

Right now, I am writing two debate briefs for our club, researching for my affirmative case, creating a logo for a friend, writing a dramatic interpretation, trying to decide whether or not to compete in Apologetics at the next tournament, and sadly turning down a skiing/snowboarding trip tomorrow in order to finish it all :P Such is life.

Idaho Tournament: It went extremely well! This was the first tournament I truly competed in speech events, and I had a lot of fun. I competed in: Team Policy Debate, Persuasive, Humorous, and Impromptu.

After an exhausting 3 day tournament, my final results were: 8th in Team Policy, 8th place speaker, 7th in persuasive, 2nd in humorous interpretation, 2nd in impromptu, and 5th in sweepstakes. I've discovered I truly enjoy speech events.

The club as a whole did incredibly well, and though I don't have complete postings, I do remember a rather large amount of Rainmakers being called up for awards :)

Now, I'm preparing for the Puget Sound Qualifier up in Washington, and I have a lot of work to do before then :) So farewell for now, I miss you all.

Happy Anniversary

I’m a hopeless romantic. I’m pretty sure you all know that by now. Love fascinates me, it captivates me, and yes, it can be rather distracting from other important things in my life.

When I think about love, and romance, and marriage, I think about reaching that moment where you never have to say goodbye. Where you never have to let go, where you have each other forever and ever.

In 1973, a love story was born. A hippie musician. An aspiring ballerina. Sparks flew, and a romance was kindled. Infatuation turned into dedication. Dedication, not simply to one another, but to their Lord and Savior, dedication to the ministry He called them to, dedication to the children He blessed them with. Dedication through the blessings and success He gave them, and dedication to the trials and pain He tested them with.

This was a true love story. Complete, not just simply by the feelings toward one another, but their love for Christ. Christ was their first love, though they loved each other ferociously.

I think it’s easy for us to say that Christ is our first love. I think too easily they become but words, practiced until they roll off the tongue with ease. It’s simple to make this claim until it’s truly tested.

After 37 years of marriage, my father had to do the unthinkable. He had to say goodbye. Goodbye to a wife that had loved him, cared for him, encouraged him, and even scolded him when necessary. Goodbye to his help-meet, his #1 fan, his best friend.

Goodbye to a marriage that had encouraged and saved lives and families in generation after generation. One that had earned the respect, not only of the world, but of their own family. One that had raised up their children to take their place as leaders of their generation.

He had to say goodbye. And as we stood by her bed, as the life of the woman we all loved fiercely slowly faded before our eyes, my father leaned close, tears whelming in his eyes, but his voice toned with quiet resolve,

“It’s alright, Sono. You can go home now.”

My father let her go. My father surrendered her to her first love. To his first love.

Every Sunday, I watch as my father lifts his hands and blesses his Lord. Every Sunday, I watch him exhort others to surrender themselves and live for Him. The one that saw it fit to take his wife to heaven. Unhesitatingly, he carries on. Why? Because God is his first love.

This picture shatters the image that I have of love. Forever and ever? It’s not to be. It questions what I put as first in my life. I watched a marriage, strong, passionate and loving, give way to something greater.

Today, so close to Valentines, we celebrate a marriage. A true love story. It’s success, it’s beauty, not because of the love between the two individuals but because of God’s love for them, and they for Him.

Happy 37th anniversary, Gregg Eugene and Sono Sato. Your story, and your lives will never be forgotten.

Your son,

Isaac

1 John 4:19 - “We love because He first loved us.”

Tournaments Begin

I apologize for not posting sooner, but I've been rather swamped. In fact, come to think of it, I'm pretty much always swamped. So we may have to get used to this :)

Last wednesday I drove down to Medford with the Davis family for the Clarion tournament. We stayed at the Eddy family's house, which was a great blessing as I had the opportunity to re-unite with my old friends.

The tournament itself was a lot of fun, but it definitely felt different for a multitude of reasons. Change is always very strange, but God is always good.

I competed in my very first speech event with a persuasive entitled "The Crisis of Christian Teen Relationships." Drawing from personal experience and insight, I reveal how damaging the relationships that we allow in our Christian culture can be.

In the three times I shared it, dozens of teens and parents came to hear the message. I'm forever grateful for the opportunity to share, what I believe, is an incredibly important message. In addition to the people that came to listen, a couple very dear friends stopped by to hear it, which was an incredible blessing, though it was a bit nerve-wracking at the time :) It was a gratifying reunion, and some of what was shared was both surprising and encouraging. I'm grateful for friends that never give up hope :)

As I prepare to take the speech to other tournaments, several of the speech coaches at the tournament told me they were very shocked that it didn't break, and felt that, with a few minor tweaks, that it will be headed for Nationals. And while this is definitely encouraging, I pray that God will allow me to focus purely on sharing the message and not on the success of competition.

Now, I'm preparing my reformatted persuasive, a humorous and dramatic interpretation, impromptu and debate for the Idaho tournament that I'll be leaving for in exactly a week. Should be fun :)

Hope everyone is doing wonderfully.