31459 Day 122

2009 Top 5 Lists, enjoy...

Songs

1) How He Loves Us - David Crowder Band

click here for what I’ve already said about this song...I haven’t appreciated a corporate worship song this much for a long time.

2) Blood Bank - Bon Iver

three seconds in to this song and you will already be feeling numerous emotions...that’s the genius of Bon Iver: immediate, deep emotional connection.

3) Daylight - Matt&Kim

totally weird and totally catchy...features a mildly chaotic beat and piano frenzy that will keep you humming for hours. the fun side of indie-pop.

4) Eet - Regina Spektor

love regina, but I'm not sure if this is my favorite song of hers...good place to start though...and it did get a lot of listens this year.

5) Epistemology - M. Ward

great love/be yourself song with theological undertones (or is it overtones)...but the best part comes at 1:33 during the “solo” when the fuzzy guitars and mandolin/banjo get all funky...i could listen to that bit of the song over and over again.

Honorable Mention: I listened, as did the rest of America, to a lot of Kings of Leon this year, so I guess I should mention that honorably.

Books (required reading)

1) A Million Miles in a Thousand Years Donald Miller

everyone has an opinion on Donald Miller...he’s the greatest thing ever...he’s an Anne Lamott hack...he’s the voice of a generation...he doesn’t like women...and on and on it goes. but people have an opinion because he’s successful and because he’s honest. that will get you every time. i’ve already written and talked (God's story-Your story) about this book, so I don’t have much new to say except for this: you can see that Miller has been broken by life and matured since Blue Like Jazz and so have I, so I think I appreciated that as much anything. also, Amy and I LOVED reading this out loud to each other.

2) The Drama of Doctrine Kevin J. VanHoozer

the most scholarly book i've read since seminary, this served as our staff reading for the fall. vanhoozer’s masterpiece is both grounding and will also push your thinking. i found it both greatly affirming of the way we do campus ministry while also helping us to take some important steps forward, particularly as we think and dream about Sojourn campus expressions.

3) Drops Like Stars Rob Bell

this book is a little silly actually. you can read it in about an hour or two, but it is the size of a laptop computer...more of a coffee table book. don’t let the unusual packaging fool you, though, it is quite profound. we saw Rob Bell speak on this book and I think that experience is what pushes Drops Like Stars in to the top 5. i could watch him talk about the weather and I would still be riveted...a master teacher.

4) Flickering Pixels Shane Hipps

a lot to think about but not a lot of answers. certainly important and timely.

5) Introverts in the Church Adam S. McHugh

i found this book to be highly affirming...a little funny at times...i think it has also Amy and I to understand each other a little bit better.

Book (non-required)

1) Sex and the Soul Donna Freitas

I could not put this book down...as weird as it sounds...absolutely captivating. her exploration of college relationships and the hookup culture leads to some interesting conclusions, some of which could not be popular in today’s academic climate. primarily she wants to know: “where, or in what context, are college students actually able to discuss matters of faith and how faith connects to the rest of life, if it does at all?” every bit as affirming to my work with Sojourn as Drama of Doctrine.

2) Getting the Blues Stephen Nichols

thank you Dennis Benson for this suggestion. i love the idea of “theology in a minor key.” my dad always wonders why I like sad songs, and now I have some theological backing. even if if you don’t like the blues, we all have to “sing” them from time to time.

3) Plainsong Kent Haruf

one of the only novels I was able to read this year. terse prose and a bleak outlook turns out to be an apologetic for community.

4) Tribes Seth Godin

a short, practical book on leadership, it has several applications, not the least of which are its implications for fund raising. no other book I read this year has been as helpful in shaping my thinking on fund raising as this one.

5) Same Kind of Different As Me Ron Hall and Denver Moore

an inspiring true tale of an unlikely friendship that saves two men’s lives. you will cry if you read this book!

Movies

1) Up

those pixar people are really, really good at story telling. i guess ultimately, this movie is about the journey being less about where you are going and more about who you are going with, but to me, it’s really about marriage and the story you tell with your spouse. i have never been as moved by a movie as when we saw this in the theater.

Honorable Mentions: didn’t watch very many movies this year but here are a few more I enjoyed: (500) Days of Summer, Away We Go, Coraline, and I Love You Man...there are a lot of movies from this year that I would really like to see =(

the end...comment away. Happy NEW Year!

31359 Day 121

molly

one final day of hanging out with people we love (and animals we love too). back to boson in the morning.

top lists tomorrow!

31259 Day 120

trivia_night

continued hanging out with friends and family. more good time with the nephews and nieces...some beer and trivia with the older folks =) we didn't do so well, but it was a lot of fun!

31159 Day 119

pacific

took amy up to stockton today to see pacific and all the places i lived and hung out while in college. it was fun being back on campus and seeing some of the new developments. also great to hang out with our friends heather and martin =) it's a lot of fun getting to know the offspring of friends.

31059 Day 118

a_million_miles...

had the awesome opportunity to speak this morning at SVCC, our biggest supporters! i had a wonderful time sharing about telling good stories and what amy and i get to do in boston. super fun! no pictures due the continual forgetting of camera's but should have a link up soon with a way to listen to what i had to say. thank you SVCC for continuing to bless us in so many ways.

30959 Day 117

christmas_part_2

did christmas today with my side of the family. i forgot the camera so i had to "borrow" a picture from my sister. always great to spend time with all members of my family, but especially the newest members. here i am with jack, my nephew...it's good to get to know you jack!

30859 Day 116

christmas_part_1

got to spend christmas day with amy's side of the family. here we are enjoying an awesome christmas feast! merry christmas everyone.

30759 Day 115

traveling...

...is so much fun! we take off for california in an hour. how excited do we look?

=)

30659 Day 114

packing

heading out of town for the holidays...next post will likely come from california!

30559 Day 113

c&k

caleb and kaitlin made us a picture! it's for our kitchen which is in need of color. we also ate cookies and drank hot beverages and had fun conversation. thanks c&k...you guys are pretty terrific.

30459 Day 112

books

christmas reading...some staff related, some for fun =)

30359 Day 111

blizzard

big time storm today. looks pretty but it means that it is time to bust out the shovels!

30259 Day 110

legit

thinking about this...

...also, a big storm is coming, more on that tomorrow

30159 Day 109

staff_party!

reunion and sojourn staff christmas celebration. lots of fun eating good food and doing the infamous white elephant gift exchange. we ended up with some cool stuff (check out amy's book...nice). i also ended up with a dime store prophets cd...nice blast from the past.

30059 Day 108

pizza

we've been way too social recently so today was a time out. homemade pizza and time on the couch!

29959 Day 107

party!

tonight we hosted an all-encompassing party of awesomeness. we called it community-group-christmas/end-of-the-semester/house-warming/middle-of-the-week-why-not-have-another-party party. the best part was having different groups of our friends together: community group/neighborhood friends...sojourn staff friends...PT friends...nice!

we also welcomed the addition of a new couch (thank you diana) and the hanging of some more pictures, and so the apartment feels a whole bunch more homey. my picture does not do the room justice at all.

finally, for your enjoyment...a picture of ben =)

29859 Day 106

more_pt_stuff

this will only make sense if you are: a) a physical therapist and b) up to speed on your pop culture references. as a result, i have no idea why diana and amy fall on the floor laughing every time they watch this...which is about once an hour. but, hey, it was a slow day in the boutry house and i can appreciate the creativity, so enjoy, or be totally confused, by this video!

29759 Day 105

bragging

as of this posting my wife, amy, is officially done with the academic portion of her doctor of physical therapy program. as a result i am bursting with pride in her awesomeness. she has been through a lot this semester. in many ways this was the most difficult semester academically. we were out of own space for two months. we moved in to our new place in the middle the semester. plus i was/am in the middle of my own transition into collegiate ministry with sojourn. there has been a lot going on! through all of that she had pressed on and done some amazing work.

today, all of the final year PTS's (physical therapy students) presented on their practicum projects...which has been THE major project of the semester. amy dedicated her practicum to developing and writing a health and wellness curriculum for Bird Street Community Center (where i worked last year, did summer camp, etc). she produced some truly awesome stuff (i am trying to convince her to get it published). she presented on it today and did a great job! my favorite part was watching other PT students look through her material and get really excited about what they saw. one even exclaimed they learned something just by reading a brochure on food serving sizes.

but the best part, for me, was the feedback she received from her faculty mentor. her mentor "specializes" in projects that bring health resources to populations and communities around the city that lack access to such things. she told amy that her project was the best one she's ever seen. that is so cool!

way to go amy!

29659 Day 104

spring_break

believe it or not it is time to start thinking about spring break. every year sojourn travels south to do some sort of experiential learning and service trip. "alternative spring break" if you will. this year we are sending a team to kentucky, and one to south carolina. two different projects but both with tremendous opportunity to give students vision for a holistic gospel and kingdom living. very exciting! we had about 15 people from 7 different schools today to talk about our trips. got me all pumped up to go...can't wait!

29559 Day 103

roaring_twenties

'tis the season for holiday parties! here we are with some of our really good couple friends =) there were a lot more people involved in this shindig, which was pretty awesome...good food and drink...lots of laughs. a great way to celebrate, end a semester, and enjoy the holidays. it's also fun to dress up.

29459 Day 102

missional_mapping

here are some of our BU leaders working on their missional maps. pretty cool to see how well and how deeply some of our leaders are connected on campus. also, i am extremely encouraged and excited about what lies ahead for us in the spring semester.

last, but not least, i played poker today for the first time since moving to boston...and it was good!

29359 Day 101

skit_nite

every fall the third year PT students at BU roast their profs and each other in the annual skit night. i went to this event last year and amy's class blew that one out of the water.

there were a lot of jokes and references that went over my head but i could certainly appreciate the time and effort and creativity that went in to the night. however, i did appreciate one part especially. in a segment titled "PT on the Street" some students interviewed people to reveal the general public's lack of PT knowledge, kind of a jay leno-esque bit, they interviewed the fiancee of a PT student. THAT was funny!

but anyway, proud of amy and diana, and amazed at the creativity in that group of students.

29259 Day 100

community_group

for the past year and a half amy and i have had the opportunity and privilege to lead a reunion community group in our neighborhood. i kind of proudly enjoy the fact that people were excited about this group starting but not sure how it would fly. not only did we survive but this group has thrived...from the point of being the odd man out (when we started they had to create a new area on the map =), to now being an extremely viable group. pretty cool. on top of that, this group allowed me to make a very smooth transition from ctk-durango to boston. just a bunch of notorious sinners trying to participate in God's resurrection in our neighborhood in Boston.

thanks for being a great group to lead, for being wonderful friends, and we look forward to a lot of great times to come!

29159 Day 99

random_stuff

almost to day 100. more significant post coming tomorrow. for now stuff i read online:

baseball

church

campus ministry

theology

advent conspiracy

plus all the blogs to the left.

29059 Day 98

super_hero

i don't know much about comic books, or the green lantern* in particular. this is a very helpful link and having read most of the information on it, i think that, of all the comic book characters, this one seems pretty interesting. that aside, amy and i received two rings in the mail today with this note:

"this is probably the oddest Christmas gift you've gotten, but i want you to know that you are heroes to me. and i want you to know that i fight along side of you.

i've given you two rings. steve, the Green one is yours. as a green lantern, you signify Will. you are determined and, especially with what you are facing and taking on, you wear it well.

amy, the Indigo ring is yours and it signifies Compassion. your heart will always lean towards those wounded, those suffering, and your light draws them in."

wow! how encouraging is that. life was spoken in to my soul today in a way that i desperately needed and that is a good, good gift.

thanks =)

*new favorite quote, from alan scott (aka, the green lantern): "I shall shed my light over dark evil, for the dark things cannot stand the light."

28959 Day 97

snow

view from the back porch this morning =)

28859 Day 96

celebrating...

leaders! the best way to do this, of course, is to go bowling and eat pizza and cannolis. so, good thing we did that.

also, today is the first real snow...not the freakish, i can't believe it's snowing in the middle of october, snow, but the real deal.

not sure if i'm ready.

28759 Day 95

friday_action

another beautiful december day in boston (seriously we are having great weather).

also, some fierce scrabble action.

28659 Day 94

the_mellow_show

ok, this is kind of silly, but it does a great job of spoofing a certain genre of music that i do enjoy.

=)

28559 Day 93

no_shave_november_pt_2

on a lighter note...i'm glad this is over! i feel so much better. but the beard was good for some laughs.

28459 Day 92

protest

these guys came to BU today. (WARNING...only click on the link if you are prepared to be outraged and have your heart broken simultaneously).

anyway, they are about as wacky as you can get. i believe that the best way to deal with these kinds of people is to completely ignore them. also, i want sojourn (and the church in general) to be known for what it is for not for what it is against. so, i did not want to go to this protest.

but at the same time i think it was important that i was there. sojourn students were there. it felt important, especially at these early stages of our involvement on campus at BU, to say "we are not that."

nonetheless it was a weird experience. we stood and watched these guys set up and then walked out. probably 150-200 students were there to greet them with signs (i stood next to a kid for a while who had a sign that said: "God loves Jon Stewart"), and then we left to have hot chocolate and eat cookies in front of marsh chapel.

what did we accomplish? probably nothing. these people will still picket and do really, really stupid things in the name of God (interesting that in their stuff they rarely mention Jesus). and most of the protest-protesters will still think that Christians are hateful and anti-gay.

i have very mixed feelings about the whole event. the protest was supposed to begin at 3:30. at 3:30 all of us "protesting" the protest got real quiet, like a show was about to start. then a nondescript van rolled up, and an 8 year old boy got out and held up an absurdly hateful sign. no one on our side of the street knew what to do. do you laugh or cry? most of us just stood there with our mouths hanging open. other people got out of the van and started doing their thing and we began our walk out.

totally bizarre. the only thing i am left with is that despite my mixed feelings i think it was good to be there. and i think i have to cling to MLKJ's quote in the picture at the bottom: "darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that."