the day after

Late night after returning home from Boston, I pulled up to the house with Jimi, unloaded my luggage, threw on my knit cap, ran down the stairs, out the door, and went for a jog. About 2 miles into the run as I was winding my way down Wake Drive I realized how amazing it is to live in a safe place. Without giving it any thought I left my house after 11 at night and went running through my towns streets and cutting through back roads and alleys. This is something I couldn't have done 24 hours earlier while I was in Boston. The thought of my safety never even crossed my mind last night, yet while in Boston we were in one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city. Just hours before we arrived a high school boy was shot on a city bus two blocks from the house where we stayed. Only a few weeks ago my friend who we crashed with had been jumped by 5 guys while walking down a major street. It would have been a stupid thing for me to leave the house by myself and go running. I'm not even sure what to do with this just yet, but I do know that I am truly blessed to live in a place where safety is a given and I want to help bring that atmosphere to the inner city.

COVER UP YOUR KNEES GIRL!

Boston was soul stirring, I'll need to chew through my thoughts tomorrow when I'm not so tired. One thing is for sure, my heart beats in rhythm with the city and the many followers of Jesus we partnered with.

on top of that our team was an A Squad!
I'm passing out now

on the east coast we ride until we die

I'm off to Boston with the Boston 11 in 6 hours, be in prayer for our trip. we're believing God for big things, I can't wait to uncover more of his faithfulness and power on this journey.

shivers

this is going to be good - you could end up watching this multiple times...
wow, must get back to work.
Revenge of the Sith Trailer

marathons and wedding bells

running is always a reinvigorating activity as much as I hate it at the time. I got out today after slacking off for a couple weeks and going for a run definitely changed my day. I really need to make this a consistent habit. I'm hoping to be able to run the Columbus Marathon in October. I think the most exciting thing about being able to run it would be the fact that it means I'll have disciplined myself in something, which is really a challenge for me outside of spiritual habits. Sometimes, I have a hard time taking care of myself, physically, financially, or just running errands or cleaning up because I get caught up in ministry. However, when those areas of my life are in disarray it profoundly impacts my personal walk with God and ministry. I need to remember this.

also, last night I felt more honored than almost any point in my life. Liz, my good friend from MD, who was basically my sister in middle and high school asked me to officiate her wedding ceremony in June. It is an incredible thing to be invited to help lead one of the most sacred moments in someones existence. Just to be part of this process gets me excited, nervous, and joyful. I can't wait for June 11th (although it means I have to miss Kyle's wedding, forgive me Kyle, but at least I'm not Jimi and missing everyones weddings). The wedding will be back in my hometown of Brunswick, MD, so I'll see a lot of old friends which will be great. Maybe its my pride, but honestly, it is kind of cool to have the chance to go back home and be officiating a wedding. I think for me it helps validates the fact that I'm no longer just a kid. Although, in some ways it would be nice to have the first wedding I officiate not be for someone who is so dear to my heart. That just ups the pressure., but thats the way I like it.

check out this pic Pastor Brian took in Sri Lanka.... while you do say a prayer for the people there, we can't forget them.  

full

wow, this was a whirlwind weekend.
It was great to be able to truly surprise TJ for his 18th birthday. Enjoy the XBox my friend. Hanging with the crew from North that have been part of my life for the 4 years I've lived here was special. Its wild that they are all graduating this spring. A great season in my life is winding down. Speaking of that, the Destructo Machines Grand Finale is Monday, 4:30, in the Sports Barn at Easton. If you want to see a great indoor soccer battle you need to be there. This is Senior Night for a lot of the crew. It'll be intense.

Perhaps even as intense as the Jack Parker/Billy D concert at Brewsters which was a great collection of Zep, catchy pop riffs from the mid 90's, and badly sung love songs by Billy. Maybe 2 of the funniest and most authentic guys I know. Somehow I always feel at home with them, I've always appreciated the way they are just who they are in spite of what anyone may think, whether good or bad.

I really appreciate Pastor Brian (despite the fact he erased the episodes of 24 I haven't seen, if anyone has them recorded, for the love of all thats right, let me know!), he came out to Panera and shared with our adult volunteer team this morning his perspective on evangelism. It is just simple and healthy. I've been to thousands ofevangelism trainings but today I came away feeling empowered and comfortable with the role I play in the process. Sometimes I feel like we really intimidate people with all we throw at them when really they just need to be aware of God's story, how that story has impacted their life, and to be discerning of the right time and place to share pieces of both those stories within authentic friendships.

Thanks to any of you who were praying for the message at CT this week, I was real excited about what God laid on my heart and the interaction I was able to have with folks afterwards. This was definitely a meaningful message for my life, hopefully some others felt the same.

Countdown to Boston Trip: 4 days:9 Hours

East Coast here I come!

PS - I got to eat New China twice this weekend, always a blessing.

the main attraction

tonight my good friend Jack Parker is playing an acoustic set at Brewsters, the little coffee shop next to the theaters at Stoneridge. If you don't have plans at 8:30 you should head over there and support a brother. the man has skills.

this gave me a chuckle 

a new journey is beginning

the beauty of hope

so I get the cool chance to read Jim's script every Friday when I prepare the powerpoint for him and I just finished reading His message for this week. The title is "holding on to hope," hope is definitely one of my favorite words. it is a word that hasn't lost its power to me. Sometimes I'm frustrated because words like love, hate, and faith are overused and they become watered down and thrown into meaningless conversation. But somehow "hope" hasn't lost its edge.

Anyways, the last couple of week's messages for CT have been hard for me to prepare and deliver because I haven't felt like I could find the message within the text for our crew there. I felt that I was just teaching it because I needed to to keep us synced up on the Journey to the Cross. Not that there weren't many great truths within the passages but my heart wasn't driven to shout the message out. I was delivering messages not proclaiming God's Word from my heart.

But, this week I'm amped up. The passage is all about rejoicing in the great hope we encounter in our relationship with God. Hope has given me new hope and I can't wait to see what unfolds as I finish preparation tomorrow. I feel like our community at CT will really be able to relate to Romans 5:1-11 so I'm really looking forward to engaging with everyone this Sunday night! You can definitely be praying that God guides my time tonight and tomorrow because I'm very excited right now. Oh yeah, back to Jim's message, it definitely left tears in my eyes and I kept muttering "wow". God's gonna do something at Heritage this weekend. (again)

pure laughter

the funniest thing I've heard today...
"jimi, if you can pee and create an alcoholic drink...."

I'll leave it to you to figure out the entire context, but these words just came from Kyle as we are all sitting here celebrating Tim's 21st birthday. conversations like this make me appreciate my roommates all the more.

get in on the action

my younger brother, Luke, and I are starting a yahoo fantasy baseball league.
if you would like to join in on the fun you should leave me a comment with your email address.

the bitter cold

it is so sad, the bitter cold that is hanging on here in Columbus.
one can only hope that March 21st will truly bring springtime.

on a brighter note, last night a great number of friends and I had a sweet "8 days til Saint Patrick's Day Party" at Cup'O Joe in Easton. Phil wowed us all with his Houdini like card tricks as we monopolized half of the lounge. Be sure to keep your calendars open for our "9 days til Earth Day Party" coming in April!

Was hanging with Rootdown today and he introduced me to Jeremy Camp,
while I'm not usually a big fan of the Christian music scene I definitely appreciated his words in this song, especially in light of the text we've been dwelling on for the JTTC this week.

Well I will walk by faith
Even when I cannot see
Well because this broken road
Prepares Your will for me

snakes be gone!

You do realize its only 9 days until St. Patricks Day.... Let the celebration begin!

Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. George Bernard Shaw
A favorite quote of mine from a good irishman.

the plague

somehow Josh Scott and I hadn't talked for about a month but we had the chance to catch up last night, talk through some tough things, dream together, and make fun of Joe K's affinity for tacky B movies. all in all, a good time. I always enjoy dreaming about the future with people, I need to do that more often. the good thing about Josh and I's futuring last night was that we already started formulating a plan to make it happen which is something I need to do a lot more often as well. a good friend once said, "it seems like you always have these big dreams but they get lost somewhere and are never implemented." that comment cut to the core of my being, because it was so true.

so I'm at home sick today which is always dissapointing. I had an incredibly productive day of bringing dreams into reality set before me and now all plans have been put on hold. the troublesome thing is that its even grueling to try and read or watch a movie. so not only am I unproductive, on top of that I am having trouble using this time to soak in new thoughts or just laugh at something stupid. anyways if you are not sick like me you should definitely head to the Grove tonight and hear my awesome roommate Jimi share from Romans. He's run some of his ideas by me and I believe that his message will definitely strike your heart.

no way.... this can't be! can it?

so I'm finding it hard to believe, but I'm hearing only horrible to mediocre reviews of "Ong-Bak: Legend of the Thai Warrior." If this is true, hope has surely been dashed for me. I have been awaiting this movie with the eager restlesness of a child climbing into bed on December 24th waiting for Christmas morning. I've heard the fighting isn't even good enoughto overcome the normal pointless plot and poor acting of Martial Arts movies. What are your thoughts? Convince me if I should use or not use the last of the AMC gift card Cisco and Jen gave me for Christmas on this movie.

Dance Theater and Maynard Keenan

Tonight I went with a friend to "Passions," a dance theater show at Otterbein and saw one of the most incredible performances. Early in the first act the dancers grooved to music from "Tool," and "A Perfect Circle." The dance absolutely gripped my heart, I was amazed by the power of it. Who woulda thunk it? Maynard and ballet...mindblowing, especially when not long after they were movin to music from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." I'll admit that I'm not exactly a dance theater connoisseur, but the crew from Otterbein is definitely talented.

Panera or Heritage?

So I'm working at the Maxtown Panera this morning (which was strange because I normally work til 1:30 Weds. and Friday if you ever want to visit or meet up for lunch after I get off and cash in on my sweet 65% discount). ..

...anyways, here is the list of people I spent time talking to, Mike B, Matt B, Jimi A, Tammy S, Mike S, Beth Z, Monica R, Maria B, Carol R, and about 4 other Heritage folks whose names I didn't know. In the course of the morning I got to talk through my message for CT, life groups, and mentoring ideas for high school girls. Sometimes I don't know if it isn't more beneficial for me to work at Panera if I need to connect with people about ministry. We need to just put a Panera in the new building.

ahhh, middle school ministry, my old friend... 

"I'm okay with being unimpressive. I sleep better."

Dollar asked me a couple weeks ago what it would look like to live life without fear of what any human thought? The question definitely fit with God's big challenge to me last year which was,
"I Dare You to Move, to fight the Goliaths you know you've been called to counter and to do so without
Saul's armor but in My strength.
Tonight I had the great privelege of eating some scrumptious New China Express with Micah P and Hamp while working on Hamps teaching on Jonah coming up in April at CT. While digging through the book the concept of living only out of the fear of God and being willing to respond when he dares permeated the story. Its amazing how much the entire world sets itself against us responding to God. We believe he promises eternity but we only see mortality, we believe he cleanses us from our sin but we are still surrounded by it, Jonah knew God was speaking but his extreme patriotism wouldn't allow him to follow God's call. At some point in our lives we definitely need to make the decision about whose voice we are going to respond to. The challenege is that we can't often see with human eyes how what God's calling us to is going to become a reality. So we also have to dare to trust God to do what only God can do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing.

a bit from Bakke

a spirituality without joyful parties won't survive...
how often do we gather together to eat , drink, and joyfully celebrate God's goodness?
what does this even look like?

sleep to dream

So I spent entirely too much time tonight trying to get this blog all set up and looking like I want it to. I think I'm 50% there. Anyways, as I bunker down for the night I thought I'd leave with these words from the Roots which just rocked from my speakers.

When I dream it's hounds on my heels gainin' momentum
I'm tired, can't get uninspired or quit runnin'
I can feel they only inches behind, I escape, I survive
Some how I gotta decide how much I want it

a good reminder for me to keep pressing into Yahweh even as I prepare to sleep.
i want to be open to fresh inspiration or a new vision even in the waning hours.
in a world with hounds all around I can't afford to let down.....I want to give Yahweh every chance to rejuvenate me and well, thankfully, one of the great ways he often does that is through a little shut eye :)

flipping pages

I've been reading Romans 4 the past two weeks and in my studies I came across this great quote.
"Faith," for Paul is never a thing in itself, but is always defined, as Romans 4:16-22 makes clear, in relation to the God in whom trust is placed.
Jimi, my friend, roomie, and blogging extraordinaire who truthfully hates Unbreakable, started a conversation a couple months ago about whether or not there was any truth outside of relational truth....
I think these words belong in the conversation. I am doing a little digging through the scriptures to see where else this is emphasized. Somewhat related, I really like the idea of our faith being in Yahweh, not the works he does for us or his promises, but in Him. Its a slight shift in some ways but I think it has major ramifications in how we build our relationship with Yahweh.

More and more I have been waking up excited about rediscovering who this Jesus is that I trust and how he reflects Yahweh and His faithfulness to the world. Listening again to his words and paying closer attention to his actions in the Gospels has me excited about telling His story and I realize that the questions this world has are answered in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

this is for jimi and all the other right minded Unbreakable fans out there. 

hmmm

okay, so i just published a post and its not showing up - this is precisely why I struggle with blogging. last year I poured my heart out during one and the computer crashed leaving me with nothing, its been 2 hours since the creation of this blog and already I'm battling. Boy do I need to work on patience.

Peer Pressure

Seeing how even Dollar Bill has climbed aboard the Blogging wagon I better get into gear and start to toss a couple thoughts out here. Especially in defense of DMB who Dollar just passionately slaughtered in his first real post. http://dollabill.blogspot.com

What are my thoughts for today? Here is an excerpt from an email I sent to a friend....
I went grocery shopping after dropping you off Sunday night and I made the concious choice not to buy any soup in the hopes that my decision would somehow cause the cold to cease....
You can only imagine my disapointment with the current state of weather outside.
On a brighter note....Life Group is tonight, which is great because I missed our last gathering and with meetings at the Grove interspersed I feel like I have really lost touch with the crew.