Coffee & Fellowship

Coffee seems to be one thing that unites friends. In my case, it is no difference. I started drinking coffee when I would go to breakfast with my grandfather. It was bad coffee filled with sugar to make it palatable. But then my friend J.C. moved to Seattle in the early 90's. Soon after my love of Starbucks and coffee was born.

I now meet with two groups of friends every week over coffee. I treasure these times! Add to that the countless times we grab a coffee on a break during the middle of the day and there you have it. Coffee addiction? No, usually I drink decaf.

While on vacation this past week, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Mecca of coffee; the first Starbucks store at Pike Place Market in Seattle, twice! No pastries. They still have bean bins. Just good coffee. It is still the way it was years ago, and is not the new corporate starbucks. Yeah!

Grad School - Biola

It took a while to get this post written. Grad school will be at Biola University in the MOL program. A Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership will be the degree. It will be a great program and quite a challenge. It is very similar to what I was hoping to take at SC. Biola has been a blessing to me. My undergrad was done there with a great group of folks in the Bamboo cohort group as well as two others in the psych program Almond and ?. So this is an update post and a salute to my friends from Biola. The photo is of Bamboo in 2005 on our last night together.

Grad School Bummer

Proverbs 16:9 says “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” (NIV). This morning I am reflecting on this wisdom with a little bit of a sad heart. You see in my human nature, it is sometimes hard to understand when your plan is not His or when He gives you such a strong desire and then changes your path, but that has happened today. The truth of the proverb is real but sometimes that does not make the change in course any less painful.

I have been praying in hopes that I would get accepted to graduate school at USC. After 12 stressful weeks of waiting, the news came last night that I was not accepted. I do not have any further information than is contained in the letter which says not accepted and probably never will. It does come as a bit of a shock after having been invited to orientation, receiving a student number and even receiving some sense from my admissions officer that the decision would be different, but there is not much I can do at this point.

So what’s next? There has always been a “plan B”. Understanding that this was a possibility, I have also applied to the Masters of Organizational Leadership program at Biola University. I am waiting to hear from them now as well with hopes that this is the change in path that the Lord has for me. It would be a blessing to be back at Biola, where I did my undergrad degree and in a program that is led by one of my friends as I do love it there and know that I fully support their mission.

So thank you for your prayers and support. Please keep them up but with a shift in direction. Thanks also in advance for your understanding of me being in a little bit of a funky mood for the next few days while I work through the questioning of why. I am looking forward to seeing what path the Lord has in store next with great trust in Him.

Perks

One of the benefits of having a wonderful wife with a great job is that there are some fantastic perks that go with it.  If you don't know, one of Sandy's jobs is that she is the ticket master for her firm.  She controls a suite at Staples Center (Lakers, Clippers, Kings, Sparks, Avengers, Concerts, etc), court side seats to the Lakers, dugout seats as well as others at Dodger Stadium, two boxes at the Hollywood Bowl, third row seats at the Disney Concert Hall and seats at the Home Depot Center (LA Galaxy aka Beckham, Chivas USA).

Over the years this has meant the opportunity to do some rather fun things.  Groups of friends in a suite for a game or concert, sure.  First choice to buy concert tickets, yep.  But one of the fun things we have gotten to do is the special events for the suite holders/administrators. We've been to a closed Universal Studios, Rod Stewart concert and many, many dinners.  They have all been tremendous blessings and allowed us to do for free what we could never have afforded to do ourselves.

Sandy's run as the ticket master may be coming to a close soon.  We are both sad and glad about this.  Sad that a great perk is coming to and end, glad that she deserves a break from what is probably the most stressful part of her work life.  So it was time to BLOG about it and share a photo from dinner last night.

The dinner was on the floor of the Staples Center.  They boarded over the ice.  Great food and drink.  A chance to shoot some hoops on the Laker's court. A tour of the locker room. Free stuff.   Another great night.  

Teenagers

As of yesterday morning, I became the father of not one, but two teenage girls. Happy birthday to Courtney who turned 13 on September 30th. I am really wondering where the time has gone. Please stop growing up. Love, Dad

Season Ticket Day 2008

From previous posts, you know that we are football people.  Not just football people, Trojan football people.  The Clark family bleeds cardinal.  Every Saturday during the fall you will find us either in front of the TV or in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum watching USC play. We root for our team and whomever is beating UCLA.  You also know that we are very traditional and in this area, tradition is strong.

It starts with season ticket day.  That special day when we arrive home to see the overnight delivery package on our doorstep.  Slowly we rip open the envelope wondering what this years season tickets will look like and where we will be sitting.  This year, we will be sitting in section 14, row 86.  The tickets, well, they look like victory!

When game day arrives, we gear up in our cardinal and gold and load the car.  We head for breakfast at The Pantry in downtown Los Angeles where we dine in a sea of USC football fans.  After breakfast we head to campus, Heritage Hall to be specific.  For my UCLA friends, that's where we keep all of the National Championship and Heisman trophies.  Yes, we need a building for all of them.  We meet my friends, the Freemans at Heritage Hall 2 hours before game time for band warm up and the halftime show run through.  It is moving when the band echos throughout the campus halls as they begin to play "Fight On" and "Conquest."  As the band marches to the alumni quad, we head for the Colesium, the band will catch up and overtake us with the drum cadence pounding.  We follow the band off campus, kicking the lucky flagpole as we go and march ourselves to the stadium.  Once in our seats, we await the bands march to the field and the sound of the "Pre-game Sequence" followed by the "Star Spangled Banner."  The kick-off comes, game on!  When the game is won, we head to the student section for the final band concert, our car and dinner.

We love USC football.  Go Trojans and Fight On!

What a blessing!

It has been an extremely blessed summer for me.  If you have followed my blog, you have watched as for the last five weeks, I have been able to jump around the U.S. doing some fun things.  That is because I am a very blessed man.  I have worked at the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton for almost nine years now.  I love my job!  It is of course not without its challenges, but I love getting up and going to work and those whom I work with.  As a matter of fact, I have missed my friends for the last five weeks as I have been on sabbatical.  The church has blessed me with five weeks off in which to rest and refresh.  Thank you to our elders for this wonderful gift.

My sabbatical has consisted of a trip to New York, a week camping and surfing in San Diego, scuba diving in Catalina, taking the GRE, a trip to Las Vegas and time with my family.  There has been a lot of reading, reflecting and just hanging out with friends and family. 

Most of the pictures of my time off are already posted on this blog.  Here is a last couple of pics as I get ready to head back to work.