Karma

The other day I was out on our fire escape that is illegally turned into a deck grilling some hamburgers over charcoal grill holding my son and teaching him how to make a perfect burger with a dash of Lawery's salt, pepper, and oregano. Then after it is grilled you put an onion, lettuce, ketchup, and mustard and enjoy...sorry I got off topic there.
Anyways as I grilled a group of very intoxicated men were waiting outside the restaurant we live above were waiting for their seats after a Cubs game (now you know why they were drunk!) As they made inappropriate comments to passing women one of the guys really crossed the line on one of his comments resulting in his friend making a comment about how he was "really messing up his karma" and shortly afterwards the really inappropriate comment guy randomly missed his footing and tried to catch his balance resulting in him throwing his body towards the street, off the curb, and right to his rear rolling backwards doing a somersault of sorts.
It was really funny. I mean, really really funny. He and his friends were almost dying of laughter as he collected his broken pride and walked back to the street as more karma comments were coming from his friends.
Then I started thinking about Karma, which is defined as "the effects of a person's actions that determine his destiny in his next incarnation."
U2's front man Bono (who like Cher and Madonna have no last name) in an interview mad a great comparision of Karma and Grace when he said: "You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff."

I agree.

long ways to go

Sometimes you really think that you have things figured out...which happens right before you realize that you have a long ways to go. I've discovered that like a funnel, the more you discover, the more you discover that their is more to discover (I just used the word discover 4 times in one sentence).
Further still is the fact that you can be cruising along thinking you have it all figured out and then something small trips you up such as the fact that I have been running for a couple months now and feel undestructible as I can run faster and faster for longer periods of time...until I formed a small blister that is forcing me to slow down. (Or when a small 10 pound baby can bring you to your knees trying to figure out how to make him stop crying).
Rich Mullins said it best when he sang:
"We are frail
We are fearfully and wonderfully made
Forged in the fires of human passion
Choking and the fumes of selfish rage
And with these are hells and our heaves
So few inches apart
We must be awfully small
And not as strong as we think we are"

I think about this as I start to wrap up my 3rd year of residency I find myself getting emails and phone calls from recruitment agencies telling me how great I would be for their particular spot. Kind of makes me feel good as all of this education and money is now going to pay off right? The "American Dream" is now just around the corner and I am about to arrive. (Speaking of the American Dream I love what Jon Foreman's thoughts on the American Dream as he stated "When success is equated with excess, the ambition for excess wrecks us.")
Reminds me of the same feeling I had when I was getting ready to graduate from high school, college, and med school...which was soon ended by the thought that I was getting ready to start college, med school, and residency.
But maybe this is the key, realizing that all you need to do is take one step at a time day by day with the confidence that you are progressing, but with the humility that you will always have a long ways to go and the faith that God wastes nothing.