my beginning at Bartlett

Well, it's been a few since i've updated this dang thing. have i started every post with that sentence? I've been busy. To all of my readership, I appologize.

Well the biggest news is that I've started a new job. Since returning from Nigeria, I've been trying to make it as a freelance designer. But I've decided to try my hand in tree work. I've become a tree climber. I climb trees. I cut them with chainsaws. I get my fingernails all dirty. I drive big trucks, wear boots and tshirts...and when I come home at the end of the day, i smell like woodchips. And it drives my wife wild. In some ways I feel more like myself at this new job...but on other days I feel a little out of place. I'll get a better idea by the end of the summer.

But for real, this job was an answer to prayer. I was feeling burned out with my career. I needed to take a step back and assess where I'm going with it. I'm still working on the computer at night...and plan on taking some web development classes in the fall. But for now, this job is what we really needed.

i've had enough

sara pointed this article out to me the other day...so i had to check it out. Basically, the article is about a group of prominent Christian conservative leaders that have started an environmental campaign to encourage americans to think about oil conservation and global warming. Excitedly, I read on...only to come to a screeching holt by a certain dumb ass who called the effort "a 'distraction' from abortion and family values."

The temptation to swear through the rest of this post is great, while my hope for a reality that Christians care about the environment is sinking. How can an issue that is so far from abortion still be about abortion? Is abortion the only thing that Christians care about? Can I be a Christian that cares about social justice and enviromental issues? Or does that just make me an uncaring leftist hippie who supports abortion? I hate politics. I'm so tired of this asinine two-party system. Believe it or not, I am against abortion. But have we neglected to consider how many more people there are that are dying from oil wars...not to mention starvation and diseases. Dobson has written some worthwhile books...but frankly, when he says things like this, he's distorting the image of God. And pisses me off.

Here and NOW

To those that read my blog (if there any of you left), I appologize for not updating this dang thing. Without further ado, a post:

So I'm sitting here (freezing) in the basement of my house (if you're a reader of my wife's blog, you'll know that this a new thing in our lives). Anyhow, so I'm sitting here at the computer and decided to listen to a sermon online. I haven't done this in a while. Rob Bell sermons, particularly around this time of year, give me new perspective.

During Christmas, I often get to see people that I haven't seen in a while. Family, friends from college, friends of friends from college, etc. And so it is with a lot of people my age. This anticipation is very positive. I love my friends and family. But it also reminds me about how much we've all changed. And that usually depresses me. I often have a romantic view of the past and view change as something that...I don't know...changes things. You know what I mean.

I have the best friends in the world, and it sometimes makes me sad that the only thing we can do is talk about the past. Like, it was better then, but now things have changed. There's this awkward dance that we do...we're the same people, but our circumstances have changed. Our families have changed. We have wives, they have kids, there's jobs...but this is really an awful way to live.

I think the key to living a fully present life is to realize what there is to enjoy today. Yes, we are older. Our relationships aren't new. The kids are out of diapers. We aren't in college anymore. Whatever it was, we spend too much energy trying to save things the way they were, and we end up losing this moment here and NOW. The sermon is about praying for a spirit here and now. I don't want to give away the whole sermon...everyone should check it out. (Called How to Lose Your Life)

I leave you with his ending prayer:

We need to ask God for a spirit for today. God help us to figure out, not to live how wish it was, or how it used to be, but meet us HERE, TODAY. Meet us here, and show us what it means to be friends, in these circumstances with THESE people here and now.

Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy each other.

the week ends

I wish I were as strong as Rosa

One of these days I'm gonna post a real update. But for now, i only have to time to post images that signify the day. Today Rosa Parks died; the Sox are about to win again (yesssss); an we visited to the mortgage broker today and signed a bunch of stuff which pretty much means we'll be eating beans for the next 12 months. worse than that...beans form Aldi...Aldi beans that are in the discount cart.

the South Side

The South Side has risen up. Unbelievable. I could cry right now. A grand slam to tie take the lead, and a homerun to finish 'em off

26.2

I've been terrible at updating this thing. i'm a terrible person. But my sister's not. This weekend Sara and I watched her run 26.2 miles. I can't even fathom what that feels like. For her it probably feels the same as when I run two miles around the block. She's a superstar.


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