"If blessings are more emphasized than sufferings, then God's grace might be more evident to us."

Just a thought that came to me while on my walk today...Gives me more reasons to "count [my] blessings."

Sactown (part ii): Jacks of All Trade, Master of None

Although I have learned to appreciate Sacramento as a city, it is still far from being ideal or a place that I would want to live if I am not from the area.  There are many reason for that...but one big reason...Sacramento lacks an exciting central identity.  Let's explore a bit of the characteristics of some of Sacramento's many identities:

History

Sacramento has a rich history...making this perhaps the most important one of them all.  Started off with Native Americans, then a Spanish Settlement, eventually, the wild American Frontier, Gold Rush, Transcontinental Railroad, and California State Capitol.  Yeah...thats a long history.  Sacramento and the State of California has done quite a few preservation of historical buildings and monuments in Sacramento...Old Sac, Railroad Museum, Sutters Fort, and soon the new Railroad Technology Museum.  Although a lot has been done, talk to anyone...almost anyone at all, Sacramento as a city today is not known for any of these things.  What's interesting is Sacramento played such a vital roll in American history and none of those things come to people's minds in a conversation (with certain exceptions of course). Did you know that the Sacramento Railyard at a point employed one third of the entire city, and was the biggest railyard west of the Mississippi River...the main western terminus?  Or a major terminus of the Pony Express, telegraphs, wagon trains, etc.?  *turns off History nerd mode*  My point is this, with such amazing history, Sacramento barely publicizes or mentions any of it.  A city that should be proud of it's heritage has ended up barely doing anything to promote its rich heritage.

Sports

Sports is also another one of Sacramento's identity.  Sacramento Kings!  They are GREAT...back in 2000!  That was 12 to 13 years ago!  I went to a Kings vs Denver Nuggets game at Arco Sleep Train Arena this season.  The Kings never had the lead...and lost 122-97.  It was one of the saddest games I have ever seen.  To make it worse...the team owners (Maloof brothers) have forced so many deals with our city.  In the end, we are still trying to make deals with them to build a new arena...even after they havent even fulfilled promises from the old arena!  The city has been so desperate to keep this team in our city...being completely blind to the tumor cancer (Maloofs) that is attached to it.  They are sucking public money that can be used to improve the looks, business, tourism and safety of our city.  I mean...$350 million isnt exactly chump change.  Building the arena would no doubt help Sacramento, but I personally think as long as the Maloofs own the Kings, get them out of Sacramento.
In recent news, the Maloofs are selling the Kings to Seattle.  I am sad to see them go...and Mayor Kevin Johnson of Sacramento is trying to do all he can do to get the Kings to stay.  It would be awesome for the Kings to stay, but I do not think Sacramento should root it's primary identity in this team. (I hope the Maloofs get out of Sac...even better, get locked up for prying so much money out of this city.)

Art/Events
Some of you might be thinking..."really?"...exactly my point.  Sacramento is actually pretty cultured in art.  Crocker Art Museum, Memorial Auditorium and Music Circus all in the heart of downtown, and also 2nd Saturday Art Festival every month...so yea...we have a pretty artistic community here.  Although that is true, the artistic culture is not strong enough to influence its identity.  For good art, people would look more to San Francisco.
Major events such as big name concerts also does not come to Sacramento very often because, lets be honest, San Francisco/the Bay would draw a bigger crowd.  I mean if there is a big name music artist that is performing in SF, Im sure people wouldnt mind driving 2 hours just to see them.  In addition, with high crime rates, 2nd Saturdays and other public events have been met with violent occurrences...further the plaguing events that is trying to bring life to this city.
Bottom line, keep these events going...but probably wont be something Sacramento would be known for...

Crime/Misery
Sacramento to be honest is not the safest city.  If you look at this list, Sacramento is towards the bottom at # 337.  One would say, "At least we aren't as bad as Oakland."  The thing is...Oakland is filled with crime due to gang wars.  But Sacramento...I dont know...I think Sacramento is sometimes worse because of all the random idiots killing a bunch of random people.  At least if there is a gang war, the city has targets and objectives. In addition, Sacramento has been named by Forbes as the 5th most miserable city in the US (I would disagree) in 2011.  If Sacramento want to LOSE this identity, it will need to spend more money and time, cleaning up the shadiness of this city and start making Sacramento an attractive place to live.  A lot of times these things go hand in hand...the less miserable people are in the city, the less likely to be crimes.

Government

It is inevitable...being the State Capitol of (what once was) the greatest state in the US...Sacramento is naturally and rightfully labeled as California's government center.  This is an identity that will never go away from this city.  Because of how big this state is, there are many public departments, institutions, programs, etc. that keeps the state running for better or for worse.  As a result, the top employer of this city, is the government.  Since no other identity really sticks out, Sacramento falls to this default identity...government.  Let's be honest...that's a pretty boring identity..."Let's go to Sacramento, I heard its the state capitol of California," *oOo...Ahh...snap a picture...go to the bathroom*  "Lets move on to San Francisco/LA/Lake Tahoe."

Sacramento has never mastered any of it's identities...as a result, it falls into its default identity...government.  Making it fail to attract people and businesses to this city.  Although the city has tried so much...the lack of a focus has made Sacramento the jack of all trade, master of none.

But lets not lost hope...now Sacramento has an opportunity to rebrand itself...Remember the railyard I was talking about earlier?  Well this is currently the nation's biggest infill project.  The lot size is 240 acre and will effectively double the size of downtown Sacramento.  In addition, Downtown Plaza Mall has just been bought out and plans for remodeling are in the works.  These two projects alone can transform Sacramento and give Sacramento an identity and the break it needs to put the city back on the map.  Though one of the most important aspects, identity is not the only thing this city needs to figure out...as I will explain in part iii.  

I want to be So Far Gone in You...Even if I can only be a Doorkeeper

Its been only a few weeks into 2013, and I can say its turning out to be one of the rougher starts to a new year for me.  It was as if once it turned 2013, everything began to fall apart...car troubles (I seriously better be compensated for the damage), sudden changes in plans, inevitable events, unpleasant surprises...A lot of these things have taken away my peace, contentment and joy.  I recently reread my post about joy and tried to navigate my way back.  

The topic of contentment is interesting.  I went to Central Peninsula Church in Foster City a few weeks ago and Pastor Mark Mitchell, talked about "Hope for the New Year".  His message was on Psalms 84 where the Psalmist's Psalm described three different types of journeys.  I wont steal Mark Mitchell's thunder...but one of the journeys is "Journey of Contentment".  

"Better is one day in your courts

    than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of the wicked."

 ~Psalms 84:10

I love the image that is painted by this verse.  Its better to be in God's courts for one day...JUST ONE...than  thousands of the best days on this Earth!  I would love to be that content...Just knowing that I am in God's presence is enough to make everything else seem insignificant.  The other cool thing is one can also be content and happy with being a doorkeeper (NOTE: doorkeepers are outside, dangers of guarding doors) of God's house than be inside the tent (NOTE: inside, shelter, security) of the wicked.  That is some contentment!  

To go further on the topic of contentment, I recently have a new favorite song...Thousand Foot Krutch - So Far Gone.  

Yeah, Yeah...I have said  that I dont usually listen to TFK because their music is too hard ...But this is one of their mellow songs.  I really like this song because I do want to be "so far gone in You".  And no...its not talking about a significant other...but rather the God that created everything, who still loves and cares about us even though we are screw ups.  He still feels for us when we struggle in life.  Even though I am going through a small rough patch right now, I constantly want to run towards Christ and be in His arms and protection.  "I wanna be so far gone in You...So far that nothing else will do!"  I want to be back in that place...where it feels like nothing else will do...where my peace, contentment and joy is based off of the excitement of knowing Christ.  I want to be So Far Gone in You...even if I can only be a Doorkeeper.  

Lyrics after the break...

Man vs. Feelings: The Biggest Mismatch in History

Sports Announcer 1: Hello everyone and welcome to the biggest mismatch in history...MAN vs FEELINGS.  
Sports Announcer 2: Thats right, Bob...this is the biggest mismatch and we are here to cover the battle's in's and out's tonight ladies and gentlemen.  In the past, MAN has always had a hard time facing FEELINGS in a match up like this.  
Sports Announcer 1: That is very true...the last match up like this ended up with FEELINGS chasing MAN around the ring until MAN got tired and FEELINGS laid the smack down on him.  
Sports Announcer 2: O yes...not a very good sight.  But, will the outcome be different tonight?
Sports Announcer 1: We'll see what happens.  so...MAN is on your right and FEELINGS is on your left...waiting for the bell...
*DING*  
Sports Announcer 2: And their off!  

Yes...as a guy, I'm not a big advocate for feelings.  I am not very connected with it, its scary and quite frankly, I have done a lot of running away from feelings.  In this day and age in this society, men who talk about emotions are seen as weak.  But what's interesting is there is a fear of dealing with feelings.  As guys we want to be seen as brave, but when it comes to feelings we want to ignore or hide or run away from it...so much for being brave.  Well, I am going to take the bull by the horns and discuss the biggest mismatch in history

More after the break...

Sactown (part i): Boring?

Sacramento...what to say about this place.  On the outside, it does not seem like it has much going for this city.  High crime rates, not too much to do, bad pro sport team, in the middle of no where, suburbia galore...Many young adults would ride off this place as boring.  In a sense, they are right.  It's boring...

I lived in a nice suburb area in Sacramento growing up.  The Sacramento River flowed less than a mile away...nice bike/jogging trails, parks, etc.  But, there's no excitement.  Besides the State Fair, big events in town comes once a blue moon.  On top of that, being a kid in the suburb, there's practically no reason to go into town anyways.  Everything one needs to survive is within a 5 mile radius.  Back then, Sac didnt really have too much going on in downtown either...on a nice summer evening, downtown was empty by 6PM...almost ghost town status.  Nothing really put Sacramento on the map besides a big white granite building that houses the state's government and the Sacramento Kings back in the early 2000s.  It felt like the place lacked identity.  As a result, boring has long been ingrained into my mind.  Not to mention, there are some personal issues that prevented me from liking Sacramento in the first place.  

Until now...

By all means...Sacramento is not SF, LA, NYC, Chicago or Seattle.  Its not what many consider as a famous or giant city...where everything happens.  Its subtle.  The city has it's problems as I mentioned earlier, but if you look hard enough, it has its gems.  

About a year ago, I started attending Acacia, a young adult group out of a church in Davis, CA.  I remembered the first Sac small group meeting I went to in midtown Sacramento.  I completely did not realize there were so many hipster-esque restaurants that were built up in the area around L street.  The street was busy...full of people.  Within a few blocks there were a variety of places to eat and hang out...and if you know me...I love to eat and hang out.  It was a far cry from what I grew up seeing, empty government buildings after 6PM.  A few months later, we began a small period of time where we started trying out restaurants all over the city.  

Another thing that I like to do is outdoor activities.  I went on my first legit mountain biking trail...also in Sacramento.  It was so much fun!  I got to try out a demo bike and felt the rush of adrenaline going through these trails.  Then tried out river rafting, kayaking and paddle boarding.  I picked up cycling...and love my usual rides down the American River Trail.  There were so many outdoor activities in the area, I dont know how in the world did I ever think Sacramento was a boring place.

In addition, I realized Sacramento has a lot of history and art.  Railroad Museum, Crocker Art Museum, Old Sacramento, 2nd Saturday Art Walk, Sutter Fort, Historic Folsom, etc.  Sacramento used to be the biggest railroad hub in the west coast.  It was also a central location during the gold rush where people traded in their gold.  Knowing so much about the impact of Sacramento in California and US history, helps me realize how amazing this city was back in the day.  As for art...I love art, but I don't know the slightest thing about it.  But, to explore galleries during 2nd Saturday Art Walks and Crocker Art museum really makes one appreciate the different artistic styles and movements in the area.

To make Sacramento even better, its central to everything...2 hours to the beach and 2 hours to the mountains.  As a person who loves the ocean and loves to snowboard...it's pretty nice.

Sure...Sac does not have giant music artists that comes into town every week, nor does it have a strong professional sports team that is always in playoff or going to championship games, but to call it boring...and nothing to do is quite a bit extreme.  I can think of so many more cities that are more boring.  I can go on and on regarding how much there is to do in Sac...but I think there is one important point with all this that I want to leave you with.  Activities are fun and interesting when people with common interest enjoy those things together.  You can be in the most exciting city in the world...but if you can't find someone who has a similar interest to enjoy the excitement with, that city would just be as boring.  Id say, find people that has similar interests and do those amazing activities together.

Anyways...even with all these awesome things to do...Sac is far from being ideal...as I will try to explain in the next Sactown part...For one...It still lacks identity.  

Spoiled Brat

I had a sudden conviction today in the morning.  I woke up being anxious, flustered, annoyed, and just plain overwhelmed due to a few personal circumstances.  Woke up on the wrong side of the bed you can say.  But as I woke up with these feelings, I quickly began to pray knowing what's bothering me can destroy the entire day.  As I began to run my errands, a thought came in my head, "You are such a spoiled brat."

When there is something wrong in my life, I pout and cry to God; if something that even remotely bothers me, I cry out to God; if I want something, I cry out to God; if I am greatly in pain I cry out to God...But when it comes down to serving God, there is always a condition.  It is as if I bargain with God to get out of my duties.  If things go well in my life, I praise God for all the great things that goes on an move on with my life.  Completely spoiled brat status.

My brattiness has been causing most of my anxiety and frustration.  When I want something to happen in my life very badly, I end up saying to myself, "I have to do (fill in the blank)."  A master plan is formulated as if my own master plan can fulfill my deep desires.  The reason why I pray/cry to God is in hopes that my plan would work and get what I want.  Because I put so much faith in what I want and my desires, anxiety is formed...knowing that God does not have to grant what I want and wish for.

This conviction has shown how broken and selfish I am.  An issue I do not know how to fix.  It is something that has hindered my faith and trust in the one and only True God.  I neglect the fact that I am his...that I am "not [my] own, [I was] bought at a price.  Therefore [I should] honor God with [my] body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Ok...Im quoting this verse out of context a bit.  But it is true...If I am made for God, I should be honoring Him...not try to use God to fulfill my own agenda and whine to God when I dont get what I want.

Lord Jesus!  Forgive me for my lack of faith.  I pray that I would not be anxious, and not be a spoiled brat, but rather trust that whatever happens, going with my plans and desires or not, that You know what is best for me.  You know it better than I know myself.  I cannot change with purely my own will power...but only the Holy Spirit can change this hardened heart of mine.  Let your Spirit be present now and heal this wicked part of my heart.  I am Yours.  

I'll Be Right Beside You

I was listening to the radio one day and this song came up.

I have to admit...I was first attracted to the music.  It was very catchy!  I attempted to look it up on YouTube and this is what came up.  As a person who is very "relational", I found this song extremely touching.
On a semi-different note, I really like how Dawn Michele from Fireflight sang with Building 429 in this song.  The duet really gave the song the feel that a couple is supporting each other in their relationship that's under God.  I have heard of many songs that is a love song to God, but rarely have I heard a Christian love song to a significant other.

Anyways.  Lyrics of the song after the break.