The Match

Thursday I had the privilege of observing an event that was unlike any other I think I'll ever witness: 255 people finding out the next 3-5 years of their life...at the exact same time. As you could imagine, there was a great deal of nervous energy in the room. Parents, significant others, and doctors crammed into the lecture hall at Jefferson's new building at 11AM for the match ceremony. (Spruce Hill let me leave school to attend the event with Sarah, for which I was quite thankful)

From 11-11:50, all the med students were talking with their friends, taking pictures, and filling out end-of-the-year surveys. At 11:50, the dean went to the podium and asked everyone to return to their seats. He asked all family members and friends (excluding spouses, thankfull!) to leave the room and close the doors behind them! After several minutes of comments and thanking folks for their work, he introduced the new dean of students. This dean congratulated everyone and told the doctors to pass out the envelopes. (it was a little strange since the doctors had the envelopes the entire hour we were there, but they weren't allowed to pass them out)

Sarah accepted her envelope, then we scurried down to the front to meet our friends Krista, Will, and Michelle. Thankfully, they all got their first choices! I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Some folks weren't as fortunate. Sarah picked Jefferson because they have one of the best family medicine programs on the east coast. While she couldn't believe they picked her, I was very proud to see her be affirmed professionally. I'd pick her as my top choice too!!! Actually, I already did...

The rest of the day was filled with Jefferson parties. I had to return to school for parent/teacher conferences, but I was able to catch up with the rest of the crew in time to watch Michigan win their first NCAA tournament game in over 10 years! Our home group took us out for dinner the following night to celebrate. It was a great reminder why we believe that our time in Philadelphia isn't finished. Thank you all for your concern and prayers for us. Please keep them coming! Who knows what the next three years will bring?!?

The next three years of our lives (aka Match Day)

In exactly a week (March 19), medical schools across the country will have "The Match"--a term used to describe the day graduating medical students are matched with a residency program. At high noon, every medical student will receive an envelope with the next 3-5 years of his/her life inside. For family medicine residency students like Sarah, this means her next three years will be spent in a specific residency program. She ranks her top programs, and programs rank their top students. If Sarah's top choice lists her as a potential resident, she matches and is assigned to their program. If her top choice does not list her, the computer system looks at her second choice, so on and so forth.

What's nice (and stressful) about the process is that we ultimately don't make the final decision--that's up to God and the program reps with whom Sarah interviewed. We believe God is using us in our Philadelphia community and isn't ready for us to leave this city of brotherly love just yet, so we ranked the Philly programs as the first few, followed by University of Michigan and Virginia. Plus, the programs Sarah applied to in Philly are some of the best around in family medicine training. (we heard some strange statistic that one in every six doctors does some training in the Philadelphia area!?!)

Anyway, we would appreciate your prayers as the day approaches. I'll be sure to post an update Thursday afternoon!

Super-wanna be

SuperEric.  It's an accurate self-descriptor I learned from Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis.  Rob described a time in his life at Mars Hill when he was trying to be everything to everyone and it was burning him out.  When I read about his experience and heard his words of exhortation to "put down this book and kill your super-whatever inside of you," I realized that he had nailed me.  This has been me!  In college, at First Reformed, here in Philly.  I try to be SuperEric.  And it's stressful.  I tried to kill off SuperEric like he said.  I tried to do it.  But it's hard.  And it's only something that God can do--not something I can do by simply trying harder.

You see, I like to please people, so it's hard to say no to things or to delegate when it's something I could squeeze into my schedule.  Yet, saying no sometimes is healthy.  I believe this is a lesson I'll have to remind myself of time and time again, but for now--I'm going to do my best to be Eric.  Nothing special, nothing super...just growing, imperfect, little ole me.

In a seemingly unrelated event, our friend Sandy had our home group over to his house today for a citrus brunch.  We had a wonderful time consuming two crates of fresh oranges he ordered from Florida.  After we had eaten our fill, we got a tour of his apartment.  One of our favorite parts was when he showed us his deck, complete with a ladder to go up to the roof.  Here are a few pictures of Sarah and me, ironically portraying superheros as we attempt to save the world:

Superwoman/Superman

Spiderwoman/Spiderman