row 20, seat e.

Have I mentioned how much I love flying?

Especially when this is the view:

Note both Mt. Rainier on the right AND Mt. St. Helens on the left. Too bad the scratchy plastic airplane window was in the way. I admired them until they were out of sight as I tried to savor (but in reality inhaled) my warm blueberry bagel, an airport tradition.

Also, my gate was decked out to provide a blast to the medieval past experience:

Everyone was staring as they walked by, totally jealous! I don’t know what the occasion was, but I was glad to claim A9 as MY gate. Of course, at the last second, they switched me to A8… so I didn’t actually get to walk through the castle doors to board the plane. Maybe when I fly home for Christmas it will be something else. Maybe Narnia, and I could be off to a magical world of talking animals and adventure.

Why the occasion to fly? Headed home for the weekend for the funeral of my grandfather, whom I have called Big Daddy all my life. And a Big Daddy he was indeed! Surely that’s where I get my sweet tooth. When I was little I used to go out to his warehouse and find him tinkering away at all his clocks, fixing and restoring them. Big ones, tiny ones, hundreds of them, if I recall correctly. A whole warehouse full. All just tick tocking away.

Check out how great he was here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dfw/obituary.aspx?n=george-john-mellina&pid=146402122&eid=sp_shareobit

It was good to be home with the family- I’m telling you, they could be a comedy show of their own. Those Mellinas are stinkin hilarious. Especially when you put all those brothers together and they get to telling stories….like the one where Richard convinced Ken to falsely own up to burying Mau Mau’s watch so only HE would get whopped with the fly swatter instead of the three of them. Or how BigDaddy installed a fire alarm on the OUTSIDE of the house so that the village of small children (that included my dad, his 3 brothers and 2 sisters, and the other 15 or so neighborhood kids) that lived on Mistletoe Dr could all know when it was dinnertime. Or when all 8 of them loaded into the station wagon to drive to LA from Fort Worth and had to fight for floor space to sleep in the single hotel room that they slept in which only had one bed. They’re a hoot- I love that Mellina sense of humor.

I started a new rotation this past week- 3 weeks of long term care at nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities. (Ironic, no?) The days are long, as my commute is over an hour to and from. This past Wednesday I put in a 12 hour day, 4 of which were spent driving. I don’t really feel like I’ve learned a ton, mostly I’ve been watching my preceptor put a bunch of numbers that correspond to something coded in a handbook on a lot of forms I’ve never seen. I also work at 3 different facilities, all of which do things a little differently, and under two preceptors. All those constantly changing variables makes it a little hard to establish any kind of norm or standard.

On the plus side, although my commute is long, it has a phenomenal view:

I could look at Mt. Rainier all day. Clearly. Half the pictures I take are of that mountain. I just think it’s phenomenal!

Here’s a fun one of the downtown area as well, from I-5 north:

Standstill traffic provides such opportunities to take pictures. Don’t worry, I’m a safe driver, I promise :)

This past weekend’s sermon was especially convicting. Mark preached on Luke 12:1-12, which talks about the fear of man vs. the fear of the Lord. He pointed out that the fear of man has no rightful place in our lives; after all, our God has conquered fear and death. Why is this so convicting to me? Because I do fear man. I think everyone does, to some extent. Not just a tangible fear, one of being attacked or something like that. But rather the more subtle fear that exhibits itself as people pleasing. Fear of what people think. Fear of losing control. Of making mistakes. People do all of these things, myself included. And it’s a sinful mentality, because it elevates a person, idea, or opinion. While we claim Jesus as Lord, men become our functional god, they are who we seek to please. They sit on the throne of our lives, and become our purpose. Mark talked about four ways to overcome the fear of man: (1) by living for judgment day- ultimately, these people who we fear have no eternal impact on us. (2) by being willing to suffer- after all, as believers, we are already dead to this world, it holds nothing of lasting good for us. When we realize that, we are free from being constrained by it, and things like criticism and ridicule are insignificant. (3) by the love of the Lord- who is sovereign and purposeful. This allows proper perspective. (4) by the fear of the Lord- as we are commanded to do. If we fear the Lord, there is no room for fear of man. Those four things are not like a checklist though, they’re characteristic of a mentality, an orientation of the heart. One that takes a long time to develop and hold fast to. Once I wrap my mind around it a little more I might write on it again. For now, I’m thankful for the grace that we don’t earn our salvation, we don’t serve a God who turns his back when we aren’t good enough. Because the reality is, we aren’t, and we never can be. And yet despite this, Jesus delights to intercede for us. Why work so hard to earn something that we will never be able to do enough to merit, and which has already freely been given to us?

This afternoon was such a treat- I got to spend time with the Whites, just talking and relaxing and laughing and doing life. Kels and I walked down to the Montgomery Plaza starbucks and I indulged in a pumpkin spice latte while we talked about real life heart and soul kinds of things. I value those conversations. Then Thomas cooked dinner with us- pancakes, eggs, and fresh fruit. Brinner, yes please.

Tomorrow morning is an early one, in the 5am hour again. BONUS that it’s daylight savings time! An extra hour will be nice :) Even so, I should be heading to bed.

Until next time.