A person with Body Integrity Identity Disorder has an overwhleming desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs:

Baz remembers first seeing an amputee when he was a 4-year old boy in Liverpool. By the time he was 7 he had begun to think, “This is the way I should be.” It was not until Baz was in his 50s, however, that he actually had his leg amputated. Baz froze his leg in dry ice until it was irreversibly damaged, then persuaded a surgeon to complete the job. When he awoke from the anesthetic and his left leg was gone, he says, “All my torment had disappeared.”

Every once-in-awhile I sort through my filtered junk email to see if anything important was accidentally placed there. The subjects always give me a good chuckle … here are some tasty morsels from the most recent batch:

• tasty postmaster fame
• Yesterdays chance is todays dream.
• showcar different
• mortification saving
• intentional Judgement Day
• bed and breakfast disobedient
• built-in annihilation
• everybody wins on Mon, 22 May 2006 19:21:17 -0300
• Imagination is higher than wisdom.
• Urgent prayer request!

Here we go:

• My apartment is virtually empty and I’m living out at camp.
• I bought a MacBook. The verdict? This thing rocks.
• The program at PVM this summer is fantastic … it’s a “time warp” through the decades, coupled with the biblical covenant story and the idea that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• I miss riding bikes.
• I’m going to visit and take care of my sister’s family in Indianapolis this coming weekend … what a blast it will be!
• I keep finding myself “singing” everyday sentences.
• I’m going to miss David Hughes.
• Today I officially passed the torch for Orbit, my church’s middle school ministry, to their new youth pastor.
• I am surrounded by some of the most fantastic men and women out at camp this summer, and I’m cherishing each moment I can spend with each of them.
• I’m a little worried that my Internet connection, and more specifically this domain, may become censored by the Chinese government while I’m over there next year. I may have to start being more careful about the words that I use.
• My body is pretty run-down. It needs a vacation, for reals.
• You can learn a lot about someone by watching home videos of them as a child.
• This built-in iSight camera is way too much fun.
• I’m almost done with my 4th of 10 courses towards my Master’s degree.
• A generous student of mine gave me his old internal frame hiking pack, and I just bought a water filtration system as well for my drinking pleasure/safety next year.
• I am so thankful that my girl has had such fantastic people building into her the past four years at school … because of them, she radiates character, integrity, and compassion!
• I am completely done with CHCA-related items. Mmm … closure.
• This blog post is done.

[Oh, c’mon …, by webel]

I apologize in advance to all who have known and loved my bachelor lifestyle … may it rest in peace.

Ever since Apple released the MacBook, I’ve been on the fence about upgrading my iBook. I can still do a lot with it, but I can clearly see how the MacBook’s 2.0 Core Duo chip, Superdrive, 13.3 inch glossy screen, built-in iSight videocamera, extendable desktop, digital audio in/out, remote, integrated wireless, and fantastic design would be nice in China next year. Ultimately, I need to be able to rely on my computer as my main source of communication with the rest of the world … and the MacBook would really allow me to handle my photos and videochatting with style and ease. But I just wasn’t sure if it was worth the price.

Until now:

So with the educational discounts, Ohio educator tax exemption, and now another $200 back (from selling the nano on eBay, of course), it’d be illogical not to do it. Plus, I should be able to fetch a couple hundred on my iBook too … interested?

This morning I tried putting on my pants two legs at a time.

A couple of weeks ago, I had 4 jobs. Now, I’m officially unemployed!

As a result, my medical and dental insurance will expire at the end of this month … so naturally, I’ve been making a run on the medical facilities. In the past two days, I’ve gotten a physical, had my teeth cleaned, had both Hepatitis vaccines, gotten an EKG, had some bloodwork done, had an MMR titre, gotten a root canal, got a prescription for Traveler’s Diarrhea medication and Malaria medication, and spent a good deal of time fighting with my insurance company. Yippee!

The irony in it all is that I’ve rarely used any medical care in the past five years of my life … I’m generally healthy, but now it’s simply time to prove it on paper. Hopefully, if I do that now, I won’t have to deal with the Chinese medical community too much:

In some Chinese hospitals, patients must wear stickers indicating how much they can pay to get well. With the quality of treatment linked to the patient ’s financial means, unexpected illness is among the biggest reasons Chinese families are some of the world’s most committed savers.

Tomorrow I’ll be fighting two main battles … I’m hoping that I can avoid spending the $200-300 on a chest x-ray that the Chinese government wants for my Visa application, and I’m hoping that I can somehow convince my insurance company to give me more than a 4 week supply of anti-malarial medication!

I’ll also be completing the DVD project I’ve been slaving over, moving out of my classroom, finishing some grad school assignments, and solidifying some financial investments. Godspeed the day when this life of mine can simplify, when the drivel can dissipate and the essential can remain!

Earlier this week, one of my seventh graders invited me to her house … I figured it was some sort of family picnic, but I jumped at the chance anyways, ’cause they’re awesome. It turns out that she and two other students actually wanted to hang out with me (and Jason, my co-coach, and his wife). We played some games, opened a couple presents, and I had the chance to talk for a while with one of the mothers who had lived in China for 4 years with her family (sweet!).

And while it was really fun playing Kickball Extreme, having an all-out sidewalk chalk war, and cooking hot dogs over a campfire, it was even more fantastic to see glimpses of the amazing women these three girls are becoming. They’ve come such a long way since this photo (taken at our first cross country meet in the spring) … and I’m so excited to see how God is going to grow them up into Himself next year as eighth graders. And for the first time, I started to realize that it actually might be kinda neat that I won’t be teaching some of these kids next year … I’m really going to start praying for the opportunity to step forward as a friend and mentor to some of them. That sort of trust and ongoing communication is rare, but such a treasure!

As the days go by, I’m becoming more and more thankful for the blessing that CHCA has been to me. Not only have I had a safe and nurturing place to throw myself into serving some beautiful children, but I’ve also had the chance to connect with hundreds of model families, seeing their faith in action and being directly blessed by their generosity and trust. Walking away from this environment, even if only for a year, makes me want to take a piece of this community with me … to just love people extravagantly!

School’s finally out for summer! Although it’s sad that I’ll be missing a precious year in my students’ lives, I’m very glad to finally be getting some closure on school. This photo was taken on the bunkhouse porch on July 15th, 2002 during my second year at Pleasant Vineyard.

If you know of anyone who’s looking for a home near Akron, Ohio … my brother is selling his. It’s a nice 3-bedroom/2-bath ranch in Copley that they’ve done a ton of work on in the last several years. You can see all the details here!

Note: The price is actually $179k … I just haven’t had time to update the website!

I have slept 3 out of the last 66 hours.

Every spring I commission an eighth grader to create a 12″ x 12″ work of art that visually interprets “Salvation.” My intent is to encourage their creative talent, learn from their interpretation, and collect some fantastic artwork. I’m always amazed at what they come up with, and this year’s painting is no exception:

[Salvation, uploaded by webel]

Isn’t it awesome? It was painted by Anne Maria, a long jumper with a cheery disposition and a genuine heart. I love how it reflects her personality.

But I’m even more amazed at Anne Maria’s choice of scripture. This verse, you see, touches on the very essence of the word “salvation” … when used in scripture, it usually refers not to saving (as we usually think), but to salving. Jesus came to heal … and the cross is a beautiful and mysterious juxtaposition of our wounds and His, of our brokenness and His solution for a restored and healed life!