My Commute and Internet

So lately I've been driving out to Santa Monica from my home and it's 2 hours each way! Eek!

I spend the time listening to music, dancing, doing body motions, pondering about life, most of the times hating life that I'm stuck in traffic! I make myself a music mix to pass the time that are usually super random. In the past I've made mixes with To Live and Die in LA by Tupac and the next song be a praise song. I don't do that anymore, it's just odd. I also used to take photos of interesting license plates. I stopped doing that too since it's really kind of dangerous switching multiple lanes in traffic and trying to get behind a car and pulling out my phone to take a picture of it. One of my co-workers was friendly enough and sympathized with my commute that he made me a CD with The Moth podcasts. If you don't know The Moth are true stories told live and some of them are really interesting.

But that got me thinking... I can make myself audio sermons to listen to on my commute! As I was searching through what sort of sermons I could put on my mix, I came across desiringgod.org and found sermons on Work & Vocation! What better way to go into work than listening to a sermon about WORK! But as I was doing this... the thought came into my mind, "The internet is awesome" We really have access to so many great resources and articles you can read on the Christian faith. If you wanna know about something... look it up on Google! If you want recommendations on books... look it up on Google, then buy it on Amazon! I was just so surprised that I was able to get these audio sermons so easily. If it wasn't for the internet I would have to go out and buy it. Granted, the internet can be used for just as much bad as it can be used for good. There's definitely alot more junk out there than good stuff since anybody can post anything about anything (like this entry). But internet in and of itself I don't think is a bad thing. It's what we do with it and what we use it for that makes it bad or good. We can save that discussion for another blog entry.

But back to my commute story, I'm now thinking about audio books. I know it's not the same as reading... But really I think the amount of time I spend in traffic I can probably get through the entire Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series in a month.

Ok! Ok! Enough babble for one night.

Currently:

Remember Xanga had a "Currently Reading" blurb? Well here is a list of some Currently's in my life.

Currently Reading:
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Currently Wanting to Read:
The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller

Currently Listening To:
Christmas Music! A Very She & Him Christmas and Oh For Joy by David Crowder Band.

Currently Watching:
Modern Family

Currently Interested In:
Flag Football

Currently Thinking:
Oh My Gosh! it's almost 2012!!

Currently Wishing:
For a pick in Turkey Bowl

Currently Wanting:
to Snowboard

Currently Needing:
Sleep!

Currently Inspired By:
Colorful Baskets with Cool Patterns. (random... i know)

Currently Feeling:
Simple and Happy

Currently Reminiscing About:
past two Mississippi Trips.

Currently Thankful For:
Friends

Growing Pains

Jonathan

Growing up I remember not liking my name, because it was so common and I always had this desire to be unique.

In grade school I remember there were 2 other Jonathans in my class and I was Jonathan Pa! "Pa" for the first two letters of my last name. The other was Jonathan "Po". Not only was it bad enough that there were three Jonathan's in class, There was another boy whom we shared the same initial of our last name. I didn't like that one bit because in our little cubbies mine would be labeled "Jonathan Pa", not even Jonathan Park, but Jonathan Pa! What the heck teacher?!? couldn't you just add two letters to "Pa"?

Then I got into middle school and high school and there was another fellow named Jonathan Park. I could call him my arch-nemesis in some ways, because we share the same name and were always being compared. At this point Jonathan with the full last name written out would not suffice to distinguish us. In middle school friends would use our physical features to distinguish between us. One was called Jonathan Park "Tall" the other called Jonathan Park "Short". Take a guess which one I was? Yep... Jonathan Park "Short" was me!

Then in high school my height caught up to him and there wasn't so much of a disparity to distinguish each other between "short" and "tall". So people started distinguishing us by another physical feature. There was Jonathan Park "buff" and Jonathan Park "skinny" Guess which one I was? Yep!.... Jonathan Park "skinny" was me!

For some reason we were always compared because we had the same last name, which I really didn't like. I always got the crappy end of the label! But we are worlds apart. To show how different we are, he went to a military college, while I went to art school. I always felt that we were polar opposites. Only thing we shared in common was our name. Funny thing is that at the end of graduation they give a picture from all the grades you attended the school district in the yearbook and my 7th grade picture is a picture of him!

Anyways... now I've gotten to really like my name and proud that my parents named me Jonathan. And also proud to bear the last name Park. More so I understand that my identity is not bound by the name I was given. Although there are thousands of other Jonathan Parks, there still really is only one me. I looked up the name Jonathan and it means "God's gift". I like how Jonathan is a biblical name and I also really like who Jonathan was in the Bible. Jonathan was David's BFF (best fwiend foeevah!) Jonathan could have sought kingship for himself because his father being King Saul would have made him the natural heir to the throne. But Jonathan had a right understanding of God and His will, and helped David escape and protect him from his own jealous father. He had the spiritual eyes to see things beyond merely the physical. He could have sided with his earthly king and Father Saul. He instead chose to side with His TRUE King and Father God.

Some other notable Jonathan's are:

Jonathan Edwards – great theologian in the 17th century during the Great Awakening!
Jonathan Barnbrook – awesome British graphic designer.
Jonathan Ive – Senior VP industrial designer for Apple. (All those pretty Apple products is because of this guy!)
Jonathan Foreman – lead singer and songwriter of Switchfoot.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas – voice of young Simba! (hahaha!)

If you've read thus far... Please blog about your name!

Note to Self:

1. Do not go grocery shopping when hungry.

2. Do not write emails when pissed.

3. Do not listen to John Mayer when sad.

4. Life is Unpredictable.

5. Add to this list.

Let's Get Physical!~ Physical!~

I realize that I spend way too much time in front of a computer and sometimes hate the fact that we live in a digital age. My job consists of me staring at a computer screen for hours moving my mouse around and typing away responding to and composing emails. Lame-O! I sometimes wish I was a designer before the invention of a computer. Those designers were dope! Although it took forever to create something, they physically moved type around and mix paints, had to manipulate images by hand and compose their work by drawing. Nowadays, we manipulate images using Photoshop, we illustrate using Illustrator (moving pixels around) Even photography is all digital. Although the process was long and grueling there is something to be said about physically making something and creating a work of art.

Even with books, I'll be really sad if my kids grew up never having to buy a physical book and if they carry around an ipad or something of that sort where millions of books can be stored into one device. The smell of paper, the physical turning of the pages, the breaking of a spine, the texture of the cover and the pages will all be lost. Also, it would be impossible to have a pop-up book on a digital device! The bookshelves would not be filled with various shapes, colors, designs, and designs of spines, but made up of an ipad or a kindle! WAH!

I'm sure the generation before ours thought the same and never imagined music being digital. But there is also something to be said about having a record. To pull out a record, place a needle on an LP and having to switch sides to listen to the entire album through is so much more cumbersome than to click "NEXT" with a mouse. But there is a beauty in a record that I can't really explain that is so nice!

I also thought about going to the gym. We are getting physical excercise by simulating what one would do if our work and labor was actually physical. Like if I was a farmer, I would proabably be doing alot of heavy lifting I just hope all of this is not lost in the future. Let's get Physical! Physical!~

Thus Far

See that guy on the way right wearing green with the stupid smirk on his face?.... Yep. That's me!

I was browsing through the old GNC website and came across these archived photos. The photo above was taken in 2005 when I was fresh out of HS. It was my first retreat at GNC as an 18 year old kid. I was arrogant, naive, ambitious, and excited. Some of the best combination of traits you can put together for disaster. haha! Anyways... I tried to remember what it was like and all the things that I was going through at the time and questions I had for my future...

At that time in my life I was praying for three things.

1. Church. Which one do I go to?

2. Art Center. Is this where I am supposed to be? Am I ready?

3. Girl. I like! Should I pursue?

In hindsight is 20/20... But seeing how all these unknown things at the time played out, it brings me such clarity and joy to how much God works in our lives and how sovereign He is. Even in the little details. All of these things were unknown to me and who knows what the future holds, but it's all in God's hands and as Phil Wickham's song suggests, we are safe in His arms! [insert body worship here]