Lowell, MA

The good news: I think my mononucleosis is pretty much gone. What happened to the mononucleosis? I think it got bored. I say around my parent's house for a few days, sipping on some Gatorlade, watching some Hot Fuzz, and reading some gnarly fantasy novels.














My wife and posse were all up at Hume. It was pretty sad, and that's why I think the mono ditched me.

We hired Nater Tater as the new High School pastor here at the CS. I'm pretty excited to have him around; the students are too. We are heading up to Hume San Diego tomorrow, to check it out. I think it should be a fun day or so!

I'm pretty excited about Merge tonight. We are going to have a special guest speaker named Mama Zipporah. She runs an orphanage in Kenya, and played a roll in helping start a little thing called Invisible Children. She is here is Arizona raising money to build new dorms for all the orphans they take in. Katie got to spend three weeks with her in Kenya a few summers ago. I would love to go some day!

Alone in Kyoto

I can never think of sweet titles for my posts, so I've decided call them by the name of the song that I'm listening to when I post. We'll call it inspiration.

Finished my book last night; Richard got a pet short-tailed gar.

We watched a message by Bill Hybels today in staff meeting. I really enjoyed it. It was pretty crazy to hear his personal story as well as that of Willow Creek, and how there were several times when it looked like failure was bound to occur. It wasn't the deepest message in the world, and I'm glad. Lately I've found myself struggling, not with deep, faith-defining questions, but some pretty basic stuff. Throughout his story, Hybles drew attention to several different times when there was a decision to be made, and things could have gone either way. He stressed the fact that in these times, God's way is the only way. How much more basic can you get; this is preschool stuff!

And yet, making the right decision can crush us. Making the right decision can mean leaving jobs, and losing friends. It can mean that people will leave you church. It can mean the end of a decade of growth.

For me, it is not very hard to wrap my head around the idea that following God means risking everything. I think I actually get it. You learn in Sunday school about making sure to give back to God. You make sure and give to God, even if it's money you think you need. It's not an option, by my responsibility. This idea has been ingrained in my head for years. Doing what's right mean risking it all.

The problem is this: I really suck at acting on what I know is right. I'm not really one for excuses. I recognize my failures. I just have the hardest time willing myself to succeed. I feel like I've failed at things for my whole life, and I the idea of suddenly doing stuff right is beyond my grasp.

I'm not expecting perfection. Not even close. I just want to be to a point in my relationship with God, where I become broken over my mistakes. Where seeking the right thing is my goal. Where I don't even calculate the risk. Where I recognize the value of serving Him for who he is, and nothing more.

I'd love some prayer in this.

Each Coming Night

It's been some time since I posted, but hopefully this will be the beginning of the end (of me not posting). As you probably noticed, the blog is no longer called "Our Blog," but has switched to "en el jardin" (Polish for "I love my wife"). The reason: I gave that coyote the boot. If you'd like to visit her blorg, swing on by.

There is one thing I would like to point out about Katie (coyote): when we started this blog, she was ALL ABOUT plain old Jane. It was a huge battle just to get her to let the headings of each post be green. Now, she starts he own blog, and I find her downloading all these sweet layouts with color and swirlies and colors! Free Until They Cut Me Down, ya know?

Yesterday, I decided I wanted to be cremated (in case I die before I ever make a will, please feel free to look to this blog to see that this was my wish). I told Katie that I would like to have my ashes spread across the 101. I'm thinking you get in the sweetest Sebring you can find (15-inch alloy if you know what I mean), drop that top, and head south. We can drive in the new HOV (carpool) lane, since there are guaranteed to be at least two of us. When you hit Guadalupe, chuck the whole urn right out the driver's-side window, and let me hit the ground rolling.

This is where I spend my life these days. You should to.