Monday, November 30, 2009

28359 Day 91

celebrations*

a couple weeks ago amy and i went to a 65th birthday party. bob, whose birthday we celebrated, gave a speech. a bob speech is always an event anticipated with a certain tension between fascination and trepidation. but this was a good (short) speech. he basically said we need to celebrate more, even little things.

that was interesting to me. here's a guy who has been living in and serving our neighborhood for longer than i have been alive and i figured he might have used the occasion to wax eloquent on any number of topics. instead he told us to have more parties.

yesterday we kicked off advent at reunion and during the four weeks leading up to Christmas we are looking at four words to frame our advent conversations. the first: celebrate. he quoted beuchner who says that our society constantly pressures us to turn every moment and encounter into a "thing to be done." celebrating is how we fight this depersonalization.

i don't have a whole lot offer here by way of conclusion. i'm an introvert...i don't especially like parties. but i want to be a better celebrator.



* the pic is from my first fireworks show in boston ('08)

Sunday, November 29, 2009

28259 Day 90



advent_conspiracy

this sure has grown in the last three years. check out the webpage here. check out reunion's response here. if you are looking for ways to incorporate this in to your advent season and looking for groups to conspire with i'd suggest clicking here and here =)

Saturday, November 28, 2009

28159 Day 89

boston!

just got back in to town. good to be back, but man did we have a good time with diana's fam. lots of sleep, great food, super relaxing, very rejuvenating time. but now, back to reality.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

27859 Day 86

kennett_square



long drive, but we made it...ready to do some eating and some giving of thanks!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

27759 Day 85

influence_map

this semester has involved a lot of wrestling over sojourn's identity: who we are, what we do, what do we contribute to the city, what do we have to offer students, what makes us unique, how do we know if we are on the right track, what, if anything, do we use to measure success?

we've tried to remain focused on this idea: success is measured by influence, not numbers.

here, to the left, is a very rudimentary, early stage, version of sojourn collegiate ministry's map of influence in the city. pretty cool to see both where we are at and the potential for expanding our circles of influence.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

27559 Day 83

how_he_loves_us

this might be one of the greatest songs ever written...i heard it/know about it because of its appearance on crowder's latest album. the song, though, was written by a guy named john mark mcmillian. last friday crowder played it at the concert amy and i were at and it was easily the loudest the crowd sung along to any song that night. same thing this morning at reunion. over all it's a pretty simple song, but the bridge is where it really gets interesting...check this out:

"If his grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

That He loves us"

Saturday, November 21, 2009

27459 Day 82

BU_hockey

went to the game tonight. great game. great seats. great dudes. BU came back to tie but could not close out the win. 3-3 tie. also, a little fighting and a shouting match between the coaches. hockey is fun.



Friday, November 20, 2009

27359 Day 81

dustin

dustin's checking out sojourn as a possible destination for an internship he has to do for school. it's been great to host him and see what we do through his eyes. i continue to realize how hard it is to fully explain to someone what we do, even when they are here "on the ground" and can see it first hand. on the other hand, it's also affirming to see an outsider get really excited about our approach and way of making missional disciples on campuses around the city.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

27259 Day 80

turkeys!

our community group bought turkeys for Quincy Street's big thanksgiving feast. pretty cool!

speaking of turkeys, tim lincecum is really good at pitching.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

27159 Day 79

house_wife*

i've turned in to quite the domestic wizard over the past couple of weeks...or so i thought. just when i was getting all proud of my "house-wife" abilities* i had a bit of a meltdown today. i've been cooking meals and doing the laundry and other various domestic chores, and doing them well, mind you, when this afternoon happened. i tried to bake cookies, make amy dinner, clean the dishes, get ready for community group, "clean" the house for a guest we are having, and eat my own dinner all in the span of 45 minutes. it was a debacle. my ego was bruised...i was quite discouraged with the lack of progress made...the cookies didn't turn out so hot...i was late to community group. i think it all turned out ok in the end (all the cookies got eaten), but i sure felt like a failure.










*the term house wife, as it is used in this post, is intended as a term of respect. no one who has ever been, currently is, or ever will be at a stage in life where they could legitimately take the title of "house wife" should note well that i write this post with the greatest amount of respect possible.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

27059 Day 78

new_address

i realized today that i haven't passed along our new address. if you are interested send me an email or a facebook message and i can get our new address to you. thanks!




ps. we like mail =)

Monday, November 16, 2009

26959 Day 77

introverts_in_the_church

just heard about this book today...can't wait to read it.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

26859 Day 76

back_to_boston

what a great weekend in NYC! went by way too fast and was jammed pack with a lot of awesomeness, but totally worth it. quick summary: bolt bus, king size hotel bed, italian food, crowder a block away, times square, nbc studio tour (observed SNL rehearsal), pumpkin ale, caught in the rain, dinner with dave and liz (greek food), broadway show with dave and liz (west side story), watched SNL (saw skit that we observed being rehearsed), sunday morning walk in central park, good coffee, more pumpkin ale during lunch with matt and valerie (great to see them and hear about their lives), bolt bus, run in to nate and danielle on the T on the way home, new appliances in the kitchen, and back to work tomorrow!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

26759 Day 75

west_side_story


dave and liz took us to see this show! awesome...tragic, but very well done. we're having a great little mini-vacation.

Friday, November 13, 2009

26659 Day 74

crowder

i've seen crowder several times now...close to ten i think. these shows always seem to come at pivotal life moments. my favorite show is still from all the way back in the spring of 2002, right after the dorm fire. i got a big hug from david after that show! anyway, these shows tend to end up being pretty emotional moments because the songs are such a part of life and have the ability to transport you back to what you were doing and thinking when that song was significant. in particular, how he loves us from the new album was a very powerful moment. rescue is coming also great. there is just something extremely powerful about singing songs to God with a whole bunch of people...


Thursday, November 12, 2009

26559 Day 73

nyc_here_we_come!

amy and i are off to new york this weekend. we're going to see the david crowder* band play tomorrow night. saturday my aunt and uncle are taking us to a broadway show...very cool! we also hope, weather permitting, to get out and see some of the city (we're staying right by the park and amy wants to go to rockefeller center and i just want to meet jay-z...just kidding...sort of). anyway, more than anything, we want a few days to relax and regroup and have fun and not have to pack or unpack a box or think too much about school and work.

stay tuned for post-crowder blogging tomorrow =)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

26459 Day 72

sentinel_films

today i would like to give a big shout out to my homeboy ramon and his crew at sentinel films. their most recent short film got accepted in to a film festival in nevada. ramon and zack flew out for the festival, had an opportunity to talk about the film after the screening, and also were able to talk to lots of interesting people about film. i got to be in one of their first films, last year, and it's awesome to see how far they've come in such a short period of time. good work guys!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

26359 Day 71

not_for_sale

i went to the not for sale campaign's backyard abolitionist tour on sunday night at Boston University. i loved their presentation...simple, but technologically proficient...heavy on application, low on emotional manipulation...a wide variety of ways to get involved, anything from a five second web page click to a vocation as a modern day abolitionist. compelling...perhaps a good platform for our campus expression at BU?

Monday, November 09, 2009

26259 Day 70

basketball_jones

or, why i love being a volunteer.

i showed up at the nathan hale today expecting to help some kids with reading and homework. but, we've been experiencing some great weather and the new site coordinator thought it would be good to let everyone go outside. i decided to organize a basketball game. we had a great time! at one point two of my favorite (for different reasons) kids from last year got in to this crazy duel of weird shots...and they, unbelievably, kept making them. and the more they made, the more excited everyone became until we just couldn't help ourselves anymore and an uncontrollable laughter broke out. i mean, there was some serious, pee-your-pants, laughing going down on the playground.

this is exactly the kind of thing i would never have been able to do last year with all the details a site coordinator has to take care of during the day...what a beautiful freedom i have now! of course, i won't have the impact on these kids that i did last year. but it is so awesome to be able to come in for a couple of hours and bless their teacher by being a distraction. and you can't beat those moments of raucous laughter!

Sunday, November 08, 2009

26159 Day 69

st._peter's

this is where amy and i attended mass this morning. i have to say that it is probably the second most amazing old church building i've ever been inside. this would be the first. other than that it was a pretty standard mass (although i wish i'd paid more attention in high school!)...very much a neighborhood parish. just happens to be a two minute walk from our house and one of the most incredible works of architecture i've ever seen. they did sing america the beautiful at the end, which i'm hoping was just a one time thing due to veteran's day. otherwise, it's kind of weird. other than that, i think we'll go back.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

26059 Day 68

leadership_community

once a month we gather the leaders from both reunion and sojourn (note our new web address!) for a wild time of vision casting and celebration. it truly is a little silly at times (for example, for the past five months i have been recognized as new staff with sojourn...good tradition, let's keep it up).

generally the first half is spent all together celebrating "wins" and talking about something big that is on the horizon (i.e. advent conspiracy). then we break out in to smaller groups for "skill" time. her are some of our guys during working on our skillz. best part of this picture is that it is completely posed =)

Friday, November 06, 2009

Thursday, November 05, 2009

25859 Day 66

t_'em_up

someone asked me a few weeks/days ago how it is that i find so much time to read. one of the hassles/blessings of living in the city is the amount of time i spend on the train. here's a sampling of my day today (which is a bit extreme, but you get the idea):

- 6:15 am red line from field's corner to charles mgh
- 1:00 pm red line from charles mgh to davis square
- 5:00 pm red line from davis square back to field's corner
- 6:15 red line from field's corner to park street, switch to green (B line) to griggs/long ave.
- 9:00 green line from griggs to park, switch to red, park to fields corner.

so, that's how i get so much reading done! despite all that, it was a pretty good day =)

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

25758 Day 65

camera_fail

i had this whole post planned out today...a picture of our community group...a touching story about how they helped us move all our stuff in to our new place...another anecdote about pancakes and bagels and doing life together. but i forgot/can't find my camera. i also can't find my bible which would have been nice to have tonight at our community group meeting where we, you know, study the bible. so, leadership fail too. can't wait until i actually know where everything is in our new house!

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

25659 Day 64

goodbye_norfolk_st...

hello 32 juliette #2 (same town and zip as old house).

i apologize for the lack of interesting posts recently. the trend will likely continue through the week as our ability to connect to the internet will be limited.

peace!

Monday, November 02, 2009

25559 Day 63

progress

moving in stinks when you have to, like, you know, work and stuff.

BUT, we are to the point now where we can actually live in our apartment!!! this means time to clean up the nelsons house and say goodbye to our wonderful hosts.


Sunday, November 01, 2009

25459 Day 62

no_shave_november

so, yeah, it's that time of the year (ps. i don't endorse this webpage in any way, but you get the idea). i will not shave my beard for the entire month of november.

why do this? you might ask. well, amy likes it when i don't shave.

self portrait to come in thirty days...