Monday, April 29, 2002

The ABC’s of Love

Compiled by Emily Susan Ward


Abide
“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”
John 15:9


Bears
“Love...bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:7


Compassion
“And He said, ‘I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.’”
Exodus 33:19


Desire
“I am my Beloved's, And His desire is for me.”
Song of Solomon 1:7


Eternal
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.”
Jude 1: 20-21


Faithful
“And I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord.”
Hosea 2:19-20


Glance
“You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride; You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, With a single strand of your necklace.”
Song of Solomon 4:9


Holy
“But as for me, by Thine abundant lovingkindness I will enter Thy house, At Thy holy temple I will bow in reverence for Thee. O Lord, lead me in Thy righteousness because of my foes; Make Thy way straight before me.”
Psalm 5:7-8


Irresistible
“You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, As lovely as Jerusalem, As awesome as an army with banners. ‘Turn your eyes away from me, For they have confused me...’”
Song of Solomon 6:4


Jealous
“Then the word of the Lord of hosts came saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.’’ ‘Thus says the Lord, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’’”
Zechariah 8:1


Kind
“And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…”
Colossians 3:12


Love
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39


Merciful
“But Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.”
Psalm 86:15


New
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
John 13:34


Openhearted
“Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; The righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to Thee, for Thou hast answered me; And Thou hast become my salvation.”
Psalm 118: 19-21


Perfect
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
1 John 4:18


Quiet
“The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”
Zephaniah 3:17


Righteous
“My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
1 John 2:1-2


Strong
“And he answered and said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’”
Luke 10: 27


Truth
“Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
1 John 3:18


Understanding
“May their hearts be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself…”
Colosians 2:2

ferVent
“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”
1 Peter 4:8


Wisdom
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.”
Psalm 111:10


eXalted
“My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear it and rejoice. O magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together.”
Psalm 34:2-3


Yearn
“Because of the proof given by this ministry they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.”
2 Corinthains 9:13-14


Zeal
“I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent.”
Revalations 3:18-19

Saturday, April 27, 2002

Bowling

I had fun bowling with the people in the Internal Medicine Interest Group. I had no idea that doctors can be so competitive :) Anyway, I was in the group with Bobbi Daniels, Wes Miller, and Jonathan Ravdin. Either Ravdin or Miller is the head of the internal medicine department at the U. Since Laura T. was also bowling with us, we decided to split into teams (Ravdin and me vs. Laura and Bobbi) -- Boys against the Girls. The boys won, but Ravdin had to suffer the indignity of losing to Bobbi. I didn't do to bad, I got a 90 but I was really hoping to bowl 100. Still, it was only my 4th time bowling.

OSCE

I loved the OSCE!!!! Technically it was an exam of our physical examination skills, but I spent a lot of time chatting with my third year friends who volunteered for the OSCE. It was relaxing and also a confidence booster for the wards. I'm almost there!


John

Scheduling

Praise God for this whole scheduling business. In an earlier blog, I wrote about how screwed I was in the lottery. Believe it or not, my schedule turned out to be much better than I expected. Here goes:

Neurology -- FUMC (closed it)
Urology -- VA
Neurosurgery -- HCMC
Surgery -- FUMC
Pediatrics -- St. Paul Childrens (closed it)
Med I -- Abbot (closed it)
Med II -- HCMC (closed it)
Ob/Gyn -- Unity (closed it)
Family Practice/ Medicine -- ?

As you see, I got the last spot at 5 sites! A big sigh of relief :)


John
P.S.: I got pretty much all the sites that I wanted except for surgery. Still, rumor has it that I will be working with Dr. Dunn who is probably one of the best surgeons at the U :) My only concern is if I have the stamina to work 100 hour weeks :)

Monday, April 22, 2002

Stuff to do this week

1. Resolve parking
2. Bowling
3. OSCE
4. Work on scheduling years 3 and 4

John
P.S.: I'm feeling a lot better today. This has been one of the faster turnarounds, yayy!!! My red nose is pretty cute, too!

Saturday, April 20, 2002

It's been awhile since I've blogged.

The highlight this week was going iceskating for the first time in my life at Mariucci arena with Roseann. At first I was really tentative, because I was really afraid of falling. Believe it or not I didn't fall at all that day. (It also helps that Roseann sent me an email with a tagline from Psalms -- something about the Lord doesn't let the righteous fall :)

I've also been studying really hard for the boards. This past couple of weeks I've been trying to finish BRS Pathology. It's quite a chore but I'm almost done with it. The bad news is that I just got sick :( AAARGGH .....

Going back home to rest,


John

Wednesday, April 10, 2002


What Flavour Are You? I am Vanilla Flavoured.I am Vanilla Flavoured.


I am one of the most popular flavours in the world. Subtle and smooth, I go reasonably with anyone, and rarely do anything to offend. What Flavour Are You?


Hmmm .... Ice, Ice, Icecream, baby?
04/10/02

I wish that I spend more time learning in clinic. So far we havn't done much except hear a few cool murmurs.

Update on Board Studying

I'm beginning to feel a little bit more comfortable in biochem, however there is a ton of material that I still need to relearn for microbiology.


John

Monday, April 08, 2002

We ARE the Champions (April 6, 2002)

Minnesota's hockey team just won the championships. I find it interesting that whenever a team wins, I prefer the pronoun "we". If "they" had lost, see I probably would have said that "they" always choke. I would have felt really bad for Adam Hauser, because he is a genuinely good guy but he let in two soft goals. The turning point for me was seeing Matt Koalska score with 52.5 seconds left. I just knew that Minnesota would win the game. You could just tell that the Maine players were really tired in overtime and they never seriously challenged Adam. My favorite moments was when he tripped and elbowed a few Maine players. I'm just glad that the game wasn't decided on a dumb penalty. Wait a sec .... it was Schutte tripped my man Koalska again that lead to the powerplay goal by Grant "I score garbage goals" Potulny. If there is anything good that comes out of No Dak, it's Potulny.

Stupid Undergrads

I can't believe that there was a riot in Dinkytown. I went out to celebrate with a couple of friends in downtown St. Paul and the St. Paulites were they were their normal genteel yet exuberant selves. The undergrads are an embarrassment to the state of Minnesota. What is the point in throwing beer cans to the police? Hmmm .... Let's see how much mace we can tolerate?

Celebration at Mariucci

My favorite quote comes from #1, Adam Hauser:"Thank God for creating the game of hockey." Hockey is truly a divine game, despite being popularized by the Canadiens :)


John

If I lived in Middle-Earth, it would be in:
The Shire

The rolling green hills, the springtime weather, and especially being surrounded by the ones you love makes the Shire a comfortable area for you. You love being surrounded only by the ones you care about, and you only desire this in an environment that is vast and open to nature, unlike in the cities or the caves.


Thursday, April 04, 2002

Upcoming blogs

1. Word Freak
2. Why I want to go to Provence
3. The connection between 1 and 2

John
Downtown Minneapolis (March 30, 2002)

S, T, and I (I mean J) decided to go downtown right after our pharm exam. We decided to go to try to find food. By magic we ended up in the IDS tower's food court. S had mashed potato, T had a Phillly Cheese Steak, and J had a tempura bowl from Little Tokyo. Next we decided to go to the flower show at MF's. I've already waxed eloquently (or rambled on and on and on and on) about gardens so I'm not gonna repeat myself. Next we decided to go to the 51 floor of the IDS building. Why? It's there :) T peeked into one of the offices to get a glimpse of downtown. Out of the blue we meet one of T's acquaintances, Mr. B. he let us see the view from his office. Isn't that cool or what! The only downside from working there is having your ears pop as you go up the elevator. Then we also did some window shopping at NM & S5A. Never been in those stores before. Who could blame me? The prices are outrageous! I felt more at home at B&N and Bull's Eye Place aka T, MF's hip little sister.

Downtown was fun!

J


Buxtehude

Last year I got to listen to St. John's passion over at the House of Hope, and I really wanted to listen to St. Matthew's this year. Alas, it was not to be and I got to listen to Buxtehude instead. What I liked most about the concert were the verses he chose to illustrate the 7 parts. My favorite verse has got to be Song of Songs 2:14. However, the high point for me is to sing the great hymn "O Sacred Head" by Bach. I love that song!

Good Friday it was,

John

Downtown St. Paul

T's sister T had free parking next to the Fitz, so we decided to check out M's beloved Curmudgeon Garrison Keillor. Unfortunately it was already sold out when we got there. Next I wanted to go to Northwestern bookstore to see if there were any Third Day tickets. Aack, the store just closed. We ended up watching MJ on TV. Since the blogs are getting progressively shorter (I'm getting tired of writing), it's time to study biochem.

John
Spring is Here? (04/04/02)

Minnesota right now is its cold and ornery self. The weather has been really mild until we got the biggest snowfall on April 1 in 18 years. I'm sure someone up there must be playing an April Fool's joke on us :) I'm slightly regretting not going back to California for spring break, but I definitely had an Easter to Remember.


John

KTIS/KLOVE Addiction

What do you do when you are bored and have lots of free time. Give up? Call KTIS/KLOVE to win cool free prizes. However for the life of me, I could never get through. I'm beginning to wonder if there is something wrong with my phone or my fingers :) The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that they are sending subliminal messages over the airway. In any case it worked! I'm changing my board dates so I can go to Northwestern/KTIS grand celebration on June 8. I'm even going to volunteer for the event.

Note to reader: John loves food. John will work at food concession stand. John loves Sara Groves. John is past the wishing.

The word is out!

John


An Easter to Remember

Mount Olivet

Out of all the holidays in the Christian calendar, Easter has got to be my favorite. This year I decided that I want to go visit a big church for the Easter services. My church meets at night, so I can check out some of the other local churches in the area. Before I went, I prayed that God would lead me to the church. I felt compelled to go downtown, but somehow I couldn't find any churches. Next I ended up on 394, then somehow I ended up on Theodore Wirth. Decided to shadow a car, since I figured that they must be going to church. Car moves to driveway. Ok, person got back from church :) Went around Cedar Lake, still see no churches. Went down to Harriet Lake, no churches yet. Somehow I ended up on 50th, decided hmmm ... wait a sec. Wow, Mount Olivet was the first church that I saw all morning! You see, I've always wanted to go to that church since I heard that it is the biggest Lutheran church in the country. Time: 10:30. No worries, that church has services at 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,1. I feel kinda sorry for Pastor Youngdahl. What a day! Decided to pray at Lake Harriet. Lasted 10 minutes. Why? I felt a cold wind blowing accross my shoulders. Read Jesus' last recorded prayer John 17 in the car, then headed back to Mount Olivet. Some observations:

1. Lots of people go to church on Easter
2. The greeters seem genuinely surprised when you bring a bible to church
3. Lutherans have a quiet strength about them (ie: they don't talk that much :)
4. Really awesome choir
5. People sing softly
6. Short services! This was the shortest service that I've ever been to. 35 minutes!!!!! My dad preaches longer than that (just kidding dad :)
7. A lot of people where funny robes

Park Avenue

I felt that God certainly did not lead me to a church that just met for 35 minutes, so God led me to Park Avenue Methodist. This is not your typical methodist church, because it is truly the most integrated church that I've ever been in. Before the service, pastor Mark greeted me by saying Happy Easter. How many other pastors take the time to do that? On Easter no less. I came during the 12 o'clock service which is the bilingual service. I don't sing Spanish, but I enjoy praising God in different tongues! Although there were fewer people there than at Mount Olivet, it was definitely a more dynamic service. I felt HIS presence there, and I couldn't help but break down in tears. After Efrem preached he invited people to go to the Altar -- those who want to partake in the power of Jesus' resurrection. I decided that I needed to go up there. While I was up there, I felt a hand touch my shoulder and someone begin to pray for me. Whoever that angel was, thank you.

Stadium Village

Normally I arrive at Stadium Village about half an hour before services start, but since I overslept I barely got there 10 minutes before the services started. Before Easter, I prayed that I could have the opportunity to sing Christ is Risen Today. Did God really answer prayers! At Mount Olivet I sang 2 stanzas of the song. At Park Ave, I sang 6 stanzas. Finally tonight we sang 4 stanzas. At Stadium Village we have a more contemporary service, but I felt so blessed by the hymns we sang last week. This past month pastor John Sanny has been preaching a really powerful series on Jesus' blood. What if Jesus was your defense lawyer? Wouldn't that be the most awesome thing? Through Jesus, God sees us as His precious children not the objects of His wrath.

Christ is risen indeed!


John