arrival day

Travel is amazing, exhausting, and full of stressfully memorable moments. So much has happened already that I want to capture a few of the memories before they disappear in tomorrow’s events.

It’s been 7 weeks and 3 days since our two younger kids sat in a court room in Taiwan and told the judge that they want to come to America, be with their parents, and play with their older brothers. A month before that, we were packing our bags to pick them up.

People like to ask me how I’m doing, and it’s complex, ever changing, and emotional answer. Today, I started crying during a meeting at work, so I’m definitely overdue for writing out my thoughts.

Spiritual Formation in Seminary

It’s no secret that I love to study the Bible. My children and wife regularly find themselves listening to the definition of a Hebrew word and how it illuminates and connects scripture. At work, I lead the local site employee Christian group. In my church, I ask questions at board meetings to press the church toward scriptural alignment. In my life group, those who gather look to me as a trusted voice when we struggle through difficult biblical passages ever onward toward Jesus. I have taken to heart the psalmist’s plea to meditate day and night on the instruction of Yahweh (Psalm 1:2) and Jesus’ prayer that we take hold of eternal life: knowing Yahweh (John 17:3).

I’ve been practicing and playing guitar quite a bit over the last year (one my covid hobbies), and I’ve been buying more equipment than is necessary for my ability level (quite low). When I travel to Taiwan later this year to pick up my kids, I want to bring a guitar with me, but space is limited. I found a $550 travel guitar, but instead, I decided to build my own by sawing up a $35 electric guitar I found on craigslist.

Here’s how I did it…

I heard a new voice on the radio, “Fleet commander, what are your orders?” Static. My comms flashed with battle updates, we were losing ships fast. “Fleet commander, please respond.”

My heart sunk. I was training to become a skirmish commander, but this fleet needed someone with hardened battle experience. My finger twitched on the comm link. Should I take command? Then over the radio, “This is Alex, I’m taking command until Khun responds. All remaining units form up on me.” His callsign flashed in comms. I realized, I’d been holding my breath and exhaled.

I checked my shields and punched warp to get back in the fight.