Wiselad.com

Wisdom in Church, Stewardship, and Culture

Archive for category Culture

The Big Sur

Sep 8

Posted by wiselad in Culture | No Comments

Caleb overlooking the Big Sur

I’m finally here in the City of Angels doing some more couch surfing at a friend of my buddy’s. The ride here was awesome. We took highway 1 around what is called the Big Sur. Some of the views on the drive were breathtaking! Highway 1 hugs the mountains/cliff along side the pacific ocean. The cliffs are really steep, so if you move over a little to far to the right while heading south, then things will go south in a hurry. You have to be very alert when driving the “Big Sur”. 5 hour energy drink did the trick for me.

Los Angeles is huge! We arrived around 7pm and went to have dinner a little after 8pm at a local Thai restaurant in North Hollywood called the Rustic Spoon, not to be confused with “Rusty” spoon as my buddy wanted to call it. It was actually very good Thai food. They had a yummy homemade spicy garlic sauce that I liberally slathered over my Chicken Pad See Ew. Great combination! After dinner our friend took us for a night drive through some different parts of LA including Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and even a quick drive through South Central! I’m looking forward to today where my brother will take me around the city to some interesting spots in LA.

Redwoods to Oakland

Sep 6

Posted by wiselad in Culture | No Comments

Caleb standing next to big tree

 

Quick update. We left Seattle around 9pm on Monday night and drove just past Eugene, OR where we slept in the car at a rest stop from about 1:30am to 7:30am. Not a great night’s sleep, I tell you. After we awoke and got some quality breakfast (read McDonald’s), we set off to see some trees. These are the famed Redwoods of Northern California. I must say, the trees were stunningly grand. They were beautiful, peaceful, and majestic. I could have spent the whole day there just hiking and taking pictures. I would like to go back sometime. I don’t even think we got to see the biggest ones.

After the Redwoods, we drove further south on our way to Oakland to spend the night, but not before we partook of the culinary experience known as the Trinidad Bay Eatery. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but my buddy Tony insisted. But my apprehension was soon turned into anticipation as we read the menu of appetizing seafood, soups, and sandwiches. The waitress was super friendly and recommended the clam chowder as well as most of the sandwiches except for the steak sandwich, which we were encouraged to stay away from. I asked about the “Market Price” crab melt ($15.99 btw), and she was kind enough to warn me that crab was not in season and that it would be sourced from vacuum sealed packages. I so appreciate that kind of honesty. It seems like everyone’s got a spin these days. My motto is “Don’t spin, especially when it comes to food.” Okay maybe that’s not really my motto, but kudos to the server lady that made the world a more honest place today.

Anyhow, several items on the menu sounded delicious but we both ended up going with the Tuna Melt with a cup of clam chowder. The sandwich was excellent and the chowder was solid as well. Definitely recommend this place if you’re hungry as you approach Trinidad Bay Eatery. Afterwards we continued driving for several more hours until we reached our destination for the day of Oakland by around 9pm. We were graciously fed pizza and provided nice comfy couches for us to sleep on. Tomorrow we plan on hugging the coast until we get to Los Angeles.

Summer 2011 Road Trip Update

Sep 5

Posted by wiselad in Culture | No Comments

My dreams of national circumnavigation have sadly come to end. I made the decision yesterday to forego a good chunk of my planned road trip around the country. I was looking forward to tackling the challenge of persevering through thousands of solo miles in my Acura Coupe. My family was not so enthusiastic. Everyone of my family members expressed significant concern about my journey alone. And after rethinking things through, I decided to listen to the advice and wisdom of my family and reduce the amount of time I’m on the road by myself.

So that said, I am still planning on leaving tonight for Los Angeles. After LA, Lord willing, I’ll be off to the Grand Canyon. I’m super excited. I will post pictures and continue to update this blog as I am able. After the Grand Canyon, I will be heading back to Seattle for a couple of days and then will fly out to Washington DC to spend a few days with a friend after which I’ll rent a car and drive to Philly, Kalamazoo, Chicago, and finally Minneapolis before I fly back home to Seattle. Though I’m a bit disappointed about not following through with my original plans, I’m also a bit relieved and feel much more at peace with the updated itinerary.

Journey in Search of Wisdom

Sep 1

Posted by wiselad in Culture, General Wisdom | 1 Comment

I am a man in search of Wisdom. In these times of sensory overload and information gluttony, it’s more important, now than ever, to be able to separate the critical from the trivial, the necessary from the superfluous, the helpful from what hinders. Our time of being counted amongst the living is short, and so if we are going to make the best use of the time we’ve been given, we need to understand what really matters in life so that we know what we ought to focus on. What should we doing with this precious resource we have called time?

I believe this idea of stewarding our time will be one of the key themes that defines my generation and the next. The amount of information has increased. The amount of opportunities has increased. With social networking the amount of our contacts and acquaintances has increased. There are more channels on your TV, more blogs to read, more twitterers to follow, more restaurants to try, more reviews to read, more tools to acquire, more guru’s to listen to, and more programs promising just the change you need. But not one second has been added to anyone’s day. We are entangled in a jungle of products, services, and voices that are each crying out for our attention. Who should we listen to? At the end of the day what really matters?

This cacophonous jungle of possibilities is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Exciting because of the hope of accomplishing more good than any past generation. Terrifying, because I fear wrestling in this web of opportunity might render us immobile for lack of ever being able to be deeply committed and rooted to anything of substance. The bible describes a life that is not rooted in substance as a chasing after the wind. If we merely run after wherever the wind blows in time we’ll discover that we’ve gone nowhere and don’t have anything to show for it. But if we are rooted and established in the purposes for which we were created, then I believe we’ve begun to walk on a meaningful path. And so my hope is that this blog would be a journey on that path of wisdom.

However, this is not a blind wandering. On the contrary, I travel in light of what God has already revealed. A wise man, after a long journey in life of trying just about all that life promises will bring lasting fulfillment; excelling in work, throwing lavish parties, engaging in romantic relationships, increasing in fame and renown, and having untold riches; after seeing the pleasures of all these things he had this to say:

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)

This is the soil that I desire to be rooted in, for the scripture says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The orientation in my journey begins in faith. Not blind faith, but faith in the God that created me and will judge the earth. Faith in the God that still cares about me and desires good for me. Faith in the God that has demonstrated his love for me in the gracious act of sacrificing his Son Jesus for my sake, to take away the evil in my heart, that I might now seek what truly has substance, avoiding the fate of the wind chasers of the world, and having a real hope that goes beyond the grave.