10559 snow_day

picture time!

- it's been snowing a ton!  today they shut the schools down (snow day!), which almost never happens (no snow days last winter, for example).  here are some photos from around my apartment complex (hardly the heaviest hit area)

outside my front door:  

my car:

the mailboxes:

- also, last night we had a little party for joe...a send off if you will...since this is one of the last times the three of us will be at church together we took some pictures...very nice!

serious men of the word

not as serious!

10459

weekend thoughts...

- pacific pride: the tigers (5-1 conference, 14-5 overall) are back in the mid-major top 25!
(they are #22)

- getting excited for the CTK Arrows Out Conference next weekend.

- i enjoyed the anna v. john paul debate on the last post (see the comments on 10359 if you missed it)

- i recieved my first Durango jury duty summons (i call tomorrow to see if i was selected for monday)

- finally, and most importantly, if you read this before 6 pm (MST) on Sunday (1-27) please pray for me! i'm teaching on john 4. thanks...

10359

pop culture thoughts

- i saw cloverfield tonight with seth, josh, keith, et al. unbelievable...my mind is still blown.

- someone asked me a few weeks ago about what it is i look for in music (i think dad asked me this). jon foreman's song "the cure for pain" pretty much sums up everything i look for in a song. listen to it here.

- also, more comments on the last post are welcomed.

ps. anna (who has a cool blog) became the first person (finally) to reference the quote under the title (stand at the crossroads...): major bonus points to whoever can tell me were that quote is from...i'll make you a shirt or something.

10259

- thanks to those who left comments/emailed in response to 10159. i appreciate the bio suggestions and husband advice. now, my apologies for a longer post...

...most of the readers of this blog are aware of this, but for clarity's sake, i'll reiterate this fact: i am getting married in june and then moving to boston, which means that my CTK time is coming to an end. a frequent topic of conversation with amy has to do with me leaving CTK and going to another church (in fact this was a big part of our conversation last night). as i mentioned in the last post, a major thought swirling about in my head right now concerns how to leave durango well. that sounds like a really nice thing to say, but much harder to know what exactly that looks like.

some classic advice on the subject goes along these lines: "you want to leave_____better than when you got there." well, that's not too hard (or too helpful) as there was nothing here before and now there is something. other classic advice has to do with maintaining relationships and not burning bridges...this is really important (as i've learned before), and i will try with all my heart to do this well.

further complicating the issue is that this is an interesting time for CTK-Durango, as we are experiencing our first season of big change, especially in the original core of people who moved here to start this campus. it is a little scary, but also exciting to watch as new leaders emerge (or as people just take on more responsibility). it is hard to be part of the reason that this transition has to happen, but i want to try to be helpful in this moment as much as possible.

so while there are definite areas where i can be helpful, the trickier issue for me as i leave, i htink, is going to be my attitude towards the new church community i join. i am really excited about amy's church, reunion. they are a church plant and they have the same 3 core values that CTK holds. i've met some of the staff and they seem like really cool people. i think what they are doing is great and i resonate with a lot of their philosophies and their approach to minsitry.

but i still sense a bitterness and frustration creeping into my soul. will i be able to just "go" to church? will i be able to submit to leaders i don't know as well as i know here? will i be able to be a part of a church that i am not actively shaping/leading? i struggle with these questions right now.

i know that i don't want to be that guy that sits in the back with his arms crossed thinking "i used to do this," or "i could do this better." i don't want to be the "crabby-ex-church-planter" guy contsantly quoting the churchy books i've and criticizing everything i see. dear Lord, i don't want to be that guy. but i know that it can be so easy for me to be that guy.

a couple of weeks ago, in farmington, we were studying Luke 14:25-27, about the cost of following Jesus. again and again, Jesus points out that we cannot follow him on our own terms doing what we feel is comfortable. it will not be comfortable for me to go to another church at first, but i am trusting that at some point (hopefully sooner than later, especially for Amy's sake) i will be able to do this.

i know that church leadership is always going to be part of my life and i believe it is also part of my future. on wednesday night, on the way to farmington, chip spoke some amazing words of affirmation into my life about this very thing. last night, when i was going off about not wanting to be "crabby-ex-chuch-planter" guy, amy said, very profoundly, something to the extent of "you might be crabby but i think adding the 'ex' part is wrong." i needed to hear that.

well, that's my life right now...apologies again for the length. so, new comment thread: advice (please) on how to leave a place well, and how not to be a crabby member of reunion.

10159

i'm not a big new year's resolution person. i think this is mainly due to the word "resolution." i did a little wikipedia work on the word. on the one hand i understand why this term is used (def 1 & 2: the state of being resolute...a vow, or statement of intent). this is all well and good, but it also sounds too definite...like it's already happened, and now i don't have to do any work because everything has been decided (def 6: a formal statement adopted by an assembly).

i like definition 9 the best: a progression from dissonance to consonance. first of all, this is a music term, which i resonate with (ah, another good musical term). second, it points out that resolution is a process/progression. third, we make new years resolutions because there is something missing or out a whack in our lives (dissonance), and we hope that by implementing our plan/process (resolution), that we find some harmony/integration (consonance). i like that.

here are my resolutions or 2008:

1) finish my time in durango well

2) acquire wisdom on being a good husband

3) find a job in boston

4) ...this is the real point of this post...read several good biographies/autobiographies. on the list so far: martin luther king jr, einstein, pete maravich. i need more! please give me suggestions on good biographies to read. (also, if you have any leads on resolutions 1-3, i'd love to hear those as well!)

10059

- shoot man...it's been snowing a ton! here's some evidence

- addendum to top five lists #1

...saw Juno this weekend.  what a great movie!  it easily would have been 1b to Sant Ralph's 1A had i seen it in 2007.  great characters, good writing, excellent sound track, wierd sense of humor, fantastic casting, and one of the best closing scenes of any movie i've ever seen.

- today is january 7th, which means that it is exactly five months until amy and i get married...let the countdown begin!