A Christmas Card from Isaac: A Look Back on 2008

Hello all!

This year has been an incredible year for me. I feel that I have grown in many ways as an individual, and all because of the events I have experienced, and the people I have experienced them with. This "Christmas card" is a way of sharing with you some of what I encountered this year and also a way of thanking God for his faithfulness in giving me the strength, wisdom, and love I so desperately need to navigate through life...Hope you enjoy!

JANUARY
Juli's wedding
In January, we drove through the frigid Pennsylvania forests into grey stillness of New Jersey for my Aunt Juli's wedding. We had fun at the wedding and in time spent with family. We danced with people we didn't know. We ate great food. We talked--a lot (How is my family not Italian? Haven't figured that one out yet...)


FEBRUARY
Nothing happened.

MARCH
Florida
Toward the end of March, when we midwesterners are at the point of exasperation with all the cold, my family is lucky enough to have a little pad in North Miami to crash in. While vegetating in the humidity, we went to the beach, observed the birds and gators in the Everglades, and meandered through Fairchild's Tropical Garden.


APRIL
Again, nothing happened.

MAY
Rilo Kiley
Happy Birthday Isaac and Erika!!! In May, we celebrated our birthdays with a trip to the House of Blues in Cleveland to see the indie sensation Rilo Kiley. The musical quality was amazing and it was fun to make fun of the couple making out in front of us the whole time!


Shane's wedding
I had never played guitar at a wedding until my good friend Shane Humphrey graciously extended the invitation for me to play with Andy Black for his wedding to Jillian. It was a beautiful ceremony...Seeing the bride walk down the aisle from the front and being close enough to see the look on Shane's face was a special moment...Saw many good friends from school at the wedding and Cody helped us find our way out of the Ashland countryside!

Gabe's dance
Toward the end of May, I was priveleged to attend Gabe's annual dance recital. It is truly impressive to see how he has evolved as a dancer. I don't know much about dance, but I know that he is very talented...PDC has been a great outlet for him to express himself and get buff in the process :)


JUNE
South Dakota
Early June was the first trip I took out west--this time with my family. We stayed in the Badlands during the first portion, and followed up at Custer State Park. Highlights included hiking a very tumultous trail through the crags of the Badlands. At one point you had to climb this wooden ladder--scared Mom half to death. Also, in Custer we climbed the tallest peak in South Dakota, Mount Harney. The view was spectacular, and gave Mom the bragging rights we always knew she deserved :).

^Harney Peak^

JULY
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Toward the end of July Erika, Julianna, and I, along with some others from churches in the Canton area headed out to Pine Ridge, South Dakota for a mission trip/vacation in the West. The first week on the Reservation was very enlightening and saddening. If you want your ideas of an "equal" America shattered, go out there and see how the government has screwed over the Lakota. On a happier note, we saw some of the most beautiful forms of nature when we were out there--electric storms, the glistening sun going down behind the black hills, flying hawks. On the trip back, we stopped at Custer, Wall, and St. Joseph's Indian School. One of the most enlightening trips I have ever taken...

mewithoutyou
Also in this month, Erika bought us tickets to go see the infinitely artistic and wonderful mewithoutyou. Although they were sans drummer, the concert was delightful with Aaron Weiss and all his prophetic banter!

AUGUST

Dan's wedding
In August, Erika and I attended my roomate Dan's wedding to Anna. At the reception, my friend Zak gave possibly the most polished, touching toast I have ever heard. I asked him how he came up with it, and do you know what he told me? He winged it. Go figure.

SEPTEMBER
Whitewater rafting
I am not the type to ever put myself in situations where I perceive that I am out of control. I hate roller coasters, theme parks, dangerous things. Yet, I decided to join my friends at the beginning of the school year on a whitewater rafting excursion. It was a little frightening at points, but the Pennsylvania forest was gorgeous at the time of year, and it made me feel very outdoorsy and rustic. Thanks for convincing me to go, Erika!

OCTOBER
My first camping trip
In my year of firsts, I went on my first camping trip, ever. I had never slept outside before, never cooked a meal over a fire--nada. It was a blast! Nick, Phil, Julianna, Erika, Kathleen, and Emily all went during the first part of our fall break from school. We cooked pie-irons, talked, sat out by the lake at night, goofed off, hiked, scared off racoons. Did I mention I nearly froze to death?

Joshua Radin A self-proclaimed "whisper-rocker," Radin's music can be heard on Scrubs. Erika loves his music and I decided to tag along. It was an intimate concert at a Kent University hall. Nice evening, relaxing music.

Coldplay I spent my first paycheck this summer on Coldplay tickets in order to suprise Erika. And it was totally worth it! The concert was amazing...I was literally physically nervouse before they came on--I was looking forward to it that much. They opened with Life in Technicolor/Violet Hill and ended with Yellow. A highlight was Lovers in Japan in which they project these giant video reels of Japan and fireworks and there were falling paper butterflies that lit up with blacklight glow! We actually got to sit in better seats than I had purchased...A marvelous concert!

NOVEMBER
State Finals!
Samuel played quads on the drumline this year, and the marching band took home a 27th state finalist title, scoring straight ones across the board in every category. Samuel has progressed very rapidly on the drums, and I am very proud of him. I love to brag that when he entered the marching band, he couldn't even read drum music, and now he has made it onto the drumline!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, Uncle Steven and his girlfriend Michelle visited as well as Erika during the last part of Thanksgiving. We had a great time, with lots of thats-what-she-saids, laughter, too much food, endless board games, and did I mention food?

DECEMBER

Chicago

Right after finals, I headed up to Chicago with Erika and my dad. On Monday I had a tour/appointments at Wheaton College, as I am considering attending their graduate program in clinical psychology. The campus was beautiful, but more importantly their progam seems to be very well suited to my professional interests. And we nearly froze to death. On Tuesday, we toured the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as Erika is interested in getting another degree in Art Education. The facilities were outrageous! The whole place was top of the line, multifaceted--painting, digital design, fashion, metalwork, video, performance art--you name it. On Tuesday night, we traveled back through some pretty bad weather conditions. Very thankful we were safe...


Goodbye to Julianna, Phil, and Greer We had a great time over at Erika's place partying like rockstars and saying goodbye to our friends...Julianna with be studying in Uganda, Phil will be working for the U.S. Justice Department, and Greer will be studying in Uganda. We will miss them very much, but their various experiences should be very enriching.

Thank you to all who made this year an incredible experience!

May God bless you in the new year...

Isaac

Chi City

This weekend, the lady and I and pops are headed to Chicago to check out Wheaton College's Clinical Psychology graduate program and the facilities of the Art Institute of Chicago...

Should be a great trip...

That's all.

To be continued...

All you need is lovecanton.com

Hello all!

: All my millions of readers who have been faithful even when I have been faithless and apathetic in my blogging capabilities.

A lot is going on right now.

Things stewing inside my head:

I have had the most difficult semester of my life this year academically...it always feels like I'm scraping by. Eight hours of sleep a night is a rarity.

This December I am going to the Chicago area to check out the Wheaton College graduate program in Clinical Psychology and look at an art school with ma'lady.

My roomate is leaving next semester for Washington D.C.

I have to figure out what I am going to write my thesis on next semester. Two whole semesters to research a phenomena! Woohoo! I am a geek!

Thinking more about my calling. Very interested in working with the underclass in psychological endeavors.

Thinking about selling my guitar and buying a hammered dulcimer and a banjo. (How shallow.)

BUT:

One of the most spiritually significant things I have been involved in this semester has been working with lovecanton through a bible study (Move Group) we have started on campus. We are holding Bible studies *and* going into Canton to serve. We have participated in several clean-up days so far and it has been very eye-opening into the nature of poverty in Canton. It has been beautiful to see the Church at work. Rivertree, Malone, Refuge of Hope, and Multidevelopment Services in Canton have come together to enact some real change in our community.

I am thankful that God has been teaching me about service this semester.

If you would like anymore info, check out lovecanton.com

Where has my Culture Gone?

How do I define myself as a white male of the midwest?

What does my culture look like?

These are questions on my mind, and ensuing blogs will address this topic.

For now, I'm off to class...

I know, what an intellectual tease.

I've been told.

Required Reading

Yesterday, in Bible study, we were reviewing the passage of James that advises us that we should look at trials and temptations and say, "Oh look--what pure joy this is!"

This is what I love about the Bible. Really messed up people who are being called to really high standards. It's humorous actually. The stark impossibility of such a premise forces us into the arms of a God who can use us in ways we never thought possible.

Anyhow, one of the things I find in my life is that it is very easy to equate "suffering" with "studying." Its an alliterative thing and its not all that unreasonable of a connection...yet somehow it is one of the most ridiculous assertions I have made.

Suffering, true suffering, has rarely ever touched me. It has barely darkened the doorstep, but it has never touched me. I have grown up as a pastor's son watching people's lives fall apart.

Drug abuse. Rape. Divorce. Adultery. Egoism.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm in one of those action movies where everything is blowing up. The plot is coming to a culmination and the main actor is just kind of mozying through a street and everything is in slow-mo. Shards and shrapnel are flying everywhere. People are running.

Yet, somehow the actor remains untouched.

That's how I feel sometimes.

And because of that, I feel two things: 1. gratitude 2. obligation

1.

I am so lucky to live in a clean, albeit lackinginaesthetics, dorm that is safe.

I have well-educated friends I can chat with about all kinds of subjects.

Hunger for me is solved (kind of) by a trip to Taco Bell.

The labor required of me is that I read, and manage my time well.

This is not suffering, this is a privelege.

2.

I pray that God will not let me live my life within the confines of that false construct we call "safety."

I want to help those in need, even if I get bruised up along the way.

I need to remain hypervigilant about the injustice that is suffered in the world today, and actively look for ways to combat it.

To whom much has been given, much has been required.

That's where I'm at right now.

Spot On

This weekend, I watched the much talked-about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Great movie. Kaleioscopically shot around a rustic poem. What more could one ask for? Cerebral and funky.

The thing I liked about it most, though, was the relational aspects of the movie. The blue hair and broken ice, the disintegrating bookshelves and crumbling houses...all of these fed into the main point:

Relationships are imperfect and yet they are the most important thing we have been given in this life. I think the reason this film struck me was that I am very interested into entering a field in which you "piece together" people lives again. Most of the time I find that appealing, but sometimes when I think about it, I wince at the impossibility.

This movie was one of the most beautiful depictions of broken people attempting to put their lives back together...I can only hope to experience things like this in my professional life.

And if I do, believe me, I will make an artsy film about it and make boo-koo bucks so I can retire and laze about on some deserted island in the Carribean.

Follow the Leader

They all condemned him as worthy of death. 65Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, "Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him. (Mark 16:64-65 NIV)

Last night, I decided to stay up and watch Barack Obama give his acceptance speech. The crowd was electric in Chicago. And in New York. And Washington. One commentator noted that the atmosphere was like New Year's Day.

Barack came out to give his speech, poised and polished as always. The crowd hung on his every word.

And can you only imagine the security around him? The podium was noticeably bigger at this speech than others...maybe it was bullet-proof?

Well, the ironic part was that I was reading my Bible at the same time. And I don't know what that says about me...maybe streamlining a little much?

I was reading the part where Jesus, a great leader, is brought before a crowd. But on this night it was a tough crowd.

The members of the Sanhedrin were hanging on his every word, but with a very different motive. They were shuffling the laws in their minds and checking their made-up facts because they didn't want him causing any more trouble. In fact, they wanted them dead.

Jesus didn't say much to them, but what he did say-regarding his Messiahship/divine nature--they didn't want to here. And so they condemned him--beat him, spit on him, and sent him to death on a cross.

And Jesus didn't flinch. He humbled himself to the point of death as everyone abandoned him.

At his point of victory, there was not the roar of a crowd ringing in his ears. There were not people flashing photographs and chanting his name.

At the point of his victory, there were nails through his hands and ankles. There was blood on his brow, and there was the weight of the sin of the universe on his shoulders.

All this to say, the irony of last night reminded me that my true leader was not accepted in his time. He was slain on a cross, beaten, and abandoned by his best friends.

His acceptance speech was a gasp that still rings in my ears: It is finished.

Thank you Jesus for leading us unto salvation and a redeemed world.