Life Updates

Not going to spend time with the usual, "haven't blogged in awhile" stuff. Not even going to promise I'll be blogging every week starting now. Just felt inspired to write a bit here, much like I'm occasionally inspired to take a shower every month or two (whether I need it or not). What can I say? We love living here.

For those of you that don't know, our day-to-day situation has changed somewhat. I'm actually working for Pepperdine again, in what has turned out to be a wonderful blessings of circumstances. Starting this past August, I assumed the role of Project Director for the Shanghai International Program; that's right, we happened to move to the location of Pepperdine's next full-time international program. So far, everything has been wonderful; the work is very enjoyable, and I have a wonderful Chinese coworker, Huiliang (William). We've been busy meeting with potential partner universities here in Shanghai, looking for properties to locate the Pepperdine facility, and even made a recruitment trip back to Malibu in September to promote the program (visit ShanghaiWaves.com to see the site I put up for the program, and the recruitment video I made, which gives a good glimpse into the city here). Not doing language classes anymore, but am doing private tutoring 3 times a week for 2 hours, which I am enjoying more at this point.

Part of the experience of living overseas (especially in a culture that does not speak your native tongue) is the reality of surrendering to your agenda on any given day. Not everything is unpredictable, of course, but things are inevitably more complicated to do for a variety of reasons. Buying clothes is more than spending money; it is a decision to use a decent amount of energy in speaking a new language, bargaining with a person that gives you a special 'foreign-devil' price, and choosing whether it is worth the effort to comparison shop to save a few bucks. Even language itself is a daily lesson in discipline and humility; in order to grow, you have to work hard, fumble through new words and sound stupid until it becomes natural, then start over with new material the next day. And then in my case, you get to go back and be stupid all over again after you've forgotten the lessons from your humiliation the week before. There is surrender involved. A surrender of pride, a surrender of many little things you didn't realize gave you stability or confidence or comfort in your former surroundings, and a surrender of your agenda to make things happen in a certain way. This is what defines what God is teaching me lately; as a good friend of mine has says back in the US:

"The greatest freedom in this kingdom is from the tyranny
of your own desires, agendas and plans."

How true I think that is, and how freeing indeed.

Blessings to you all, wherever you are. I'll try to hang out here a bit more often!