In case you've been missing the fun over on MySpace (www.myspace.com/okimisan) here's a few pictures of my good friend Michael Shofner. It is not his birthday or anything but it is almost a holiday that is very special to us both. Michael, if you're reading this, we'll be thinking of you tomorrow.
So we're walking in downtown Chicago with an hour before our next appointment. The girls are shopping. We're not really interested in that. All of a sudden we hear ourselves saying, "Boy, what are all the firetrucks for?"
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Yes, if you counted that was all four streets from that one corner. I kid you not, there were at least 14 firetrucks visible from where I stood plus at least as many fire SUVs, police cars, and ambulances. AND since the Hilton (the hotel where the problem seemed to be) was down one of those four streets, the corner on the other side of the Hilton probably had more emergency vehicles. I can't confirm that though.
Lessons we learned:
(1) Freeon is dangerous and it can leak and hurt you. (I had no idea my fridge was unsafe).
(2) Apparently, in Chicago, there are plenty of people who can free up their afternoon to stand around with mouths gaping wondering what's going on.
(3) Human nature, one might think, would lead people to run away from a corner with so many emergency vehicles. You know, maybe something's going to explode, let me save myself. Nope. Let me get as close to what seems to be the source of the emergency as I can. I MUST know what's going on even if I get hurt.
Anyway, it was incredibly mysterious and also we thought if we waited long enough we'd get on the news. Nope.
Jesse and I hung out together most of the time. We had fun. This is me trying to take a picture of us. That's my intense look of concentration.
This is most of the students in the group outside the Chicago theatre.
This is a stunning view of downtown Chicago. Unfortunately, when you use a flash, it highlights the screen on the windows of the Hancock Observatory.
Have you ever seen a dolphin swim upside down? No, this picture is not upside down. They just swim on their backs. That is a good life.
Speaking of dolphins. Recognize this place?
This is Sue. She's pretty darn amazing. You can't tell, but that's just a model of her skull attached to her real skeleton. Her head weighs too much for her body to support. Wow.
Sentinel! For all you who appreciate The Matrix with me. From the Museum of Science and Industry's Robot exhibit.
Perhaps one of my favorite things in Chicago's downtown. A mirror kidney bean. This wonder of modern engineering is found in Millenium Park outside of the Art Institute. You might scoff, but it does incredible things.
See? Bet you can't tell that I'm taking this picture. Even if you click on it.I just got back from my trip to Chicago with a bunch of Business Students. Not only was it a fun time, it quite possibly was a life changing experience. You should ask me about it sometime.
In any case, we saw all kinds of stuff. One stop we made on Sabbath was the aquarium. If I figure out how to post a video, you might see one that I took.
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Another stop that day was the planetarium. Ironically, we thought that would be the least interesting of our stops that day (out of the aquarium, planetarium, and field museum). It turned out to be a real hit with us. It was educational, fun, and included nap-time.
It made me stop and question things for a second though. We were planning on having a "church service" at the end of Sabbath where we shared how we saw God that day. So that was my mindset. In the planetarium it was easy to see God's work--the wonder, the majesty, the huge, the design. And, it made me stop and doubt. In the explanation of space and the exploration of space, my mind could imagine a day when people leave Earth for the moon or the stars. But I couldn't imagine (realistically) a day when we all leave Earth and go to Heaven.
Don't get me wrong--to some extent I can imagine Heaven and the new Earth. But what about that part where we all fly up to Heaven. It seems incredibly far out to me. And it shook me a little. But maybe I'm not supposed to be able to imagine it. It should be, at least in some sense, unimaginable. I dunno. I'm not sure if I have a question, but I know I don't have an answer. I hope that God takes my shaky faith, says, "This will do for starters," and then grows it.
It helped that on Angela Barber's blog today she shared a great quote about what we are all looking for: "that there is a God right here in the midst of our day-to-day lives...who is trying to get messages through our blindness" (Buechner).
I'm glad that God can take my little faith and still send me reminders that He is love and that He loves me.
