54959 Day 362

seth


said goodbye to our old friend (and old roommate) seth robins today.  seth has always been a very tangible reminder of my time in durango and the awesomeness that was my experience with CTK.  so, in some ways seeing seth leave boston is the final step in being fully integrated to life here.  however you look at it, it is pretty hard to see him go (especially since he is going to california!). we'll miss you seth!  

20759 Day 15

bike_ride

i made a deal with myself today. we are experiencing some beautiful late summer/early fall weather here in boston. the best weather we've had in a long time actually. a "must be outside" kind of day. so i said, "self, get your work done quick and then go for a bike ride." amy and i recently invested some money in fixing up some bikes and i used mine almost every day during camp, but haven't had much of a rhythm with it since that ended. it felt really good to get back on this today...

...i discovered via a handy "bike map of boston" amy acquired at some free event on campus that it is very easy to get from the Nelson's to the infamous dorchester bike path that i've heard so much about but never biked on before...

what a cool trail! not hard in any sense, but it kind of reminded me of durango...

...ok, so it only reminded me of durango in this one spot, but, still, quite the oasis of beauty on a path that runs around and through some of the rougher areas of boston. i love it. plus you end up in a place like this...

which is pretty cool. needless to say, i had a great experiencing a little beauty in the middle of busy week and a crazy town.

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- miscellaneous thoughts...

- two weeks to the wedding!  it's almost been a week since i left colordao...time is flying by.  right now i find myself doing various pre-wedding related tasks, trying to sell my car, and resting up after a hectic last few weeks.

- i think i finished my time well in durango...everyone surprised me with a visit from the parents for my last sunday...very cool.

- i finished off the brick at lady falcs...hopefully when we go back through in june it will be painted and up and i can take my picture with it.  for now, this will suffice...cheers!

12459 last_week

- i organize my life on boards...a clipboard (for paper and notes) and a white board (for an outline of my week)...so here is my last week in Durango...crazy.

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close...

...that's how i feel about so many things...getting closer to the wedding date...closer to locking down a place to live and a job in boston...closer to leaving durango and CTK...closer, closer, almost, almost...

...it's been a weird tension for a while, but is becoming more tangible and palpable all the time.

pray for sanity and the clarification of some of these "almosts"...especially the job and the house!

thanks

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!

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!)

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- 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! 

08359

- i'm going to see crowder tomorrow, so i'll have more to say after that

until then, check this out (#8)

http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/love_the_outdoors.html

07159

a year ago today i climbed into a yellow penske truck full of my worldly possessions, and began the long drive to durango...which means that tomorrow will mark my first full year of living in colorado! what a year it has been...impossible to summarize in a neat and tidy post. there have been a wide variety of ups and downs, highs and lows, both personally and on the church level, and while the future continues to unfold in unpredictable, but exciting ways, the one thing i can say for certain is that this year has been one of the best, if not the best, experience of my life. i have no doubt that the growth that has occured this year could only have happened here, in this context...

...i can't wait to see what happens next!

03059

items of the utmost importance and extreme significance for the week of november 26-december 2nd.

- today is the last day in november which means i have been in durango for four months...part of me wants to say "four months...that's all," the other part realizes that this constitutes one third of a year, amazing.

- i love the exchange between sarah and ryan in the comments...good stuff...

- i am currently reading "what is the what" by dave eggers (number two on the all time favorite authors list). this book is very different from the other stuff he has written (including, but not limited to, "a heartbreaking work of staggering genius," "how we are hungry," and "you shall know our velocity") what is the what is to do with the story of a Sudanese refugee and in many ways this book is actually the heartbreaking work of staggering genius. (here is a plug for www.savedarfur.org)

- now that the hockey fiasco is winding down, things are pretty slow at the soccer shop...until january when indoor starts. arsenal is also disappointing us as well. they'll have a great game (see their 3-1 win over hamburg in the champions league), then stink it up with a inexplicable 3-1 loss to bolton (in the EPL). way too inconsistent.

- CTK-durango's momentum continues to build...we will be multiplying our small groups in january, moving into the bigger room in pickles on christmas eve, and looking for more ways to expand our service in the community. personally, i am enjoying this season very much, but i can't wait for the calendar to flip over to january because i think many exciting things are going to start happening once the holidays are over.

- i'll be in salinas and available to hang out the last week of december...let me know if you'll be around.

- lastly, this man is a genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BcT4MXcNwY

01259

first off, thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and also thank you to those who have been posting comments on the blog!

the last few days have been interesting and amazing. we had our first information meeting on friday and one person showed up! this could have been a huge bummer for our team, but the conversation that emerged answered so many of our questions (where can we serve, who is being overlooked by the churches, etc) that everyone was pretty stoked when it was all said and done.

then, last night we had our first (4) durango people come. what a huge moment for our team to finally welcome new people into our community. i was really proud of the way everyone interacted with our visitors and really made them feel welcome. i'm pretty sure we'll be seeing more of them in the future.

finally, this weekend was also a great time to hang out with dave browning the founding pastor of the Christ the King movement. (hopefully, most of you know that we are not just here doing this thing on our own, but are a part of the Christ the King network or churches). dave was really encouraging to us and also very excited by what he sees happening here.

dave has a book out now, titled Deliberate Simplicity, which outlines what CTK is all about. it can be purchased from amazon or barnes and noble. i highly recommend in general, but especially if you are interested in finding out more about what we are attempting to do here in durango.

thanks again everyone!

01159

check this out...

http://web.mac.com/ryanmcrae/iWeb/Colorado/Durango.html

01059

there are moments or phases of life that sometimes have to pass before you can say "yeah, that was a real good time." usually i need some time to pass to have the proper perspective.

then there are times when you know, during every single moment, that this is about as good as it gets. this weekend was one of those moments.

rmac and i packed about as much into one weekend as is possible. we cleaned up at the sky ute casino, we got kicked out of the telluride film festival (where we met many cool people, award winning directors, scored free stuff, and even had time to ride the gondola), participated in an ultimate frisbee tournament (which nearly killed me), ate some of joe's amazing barbecue, and pretty much dominated the entire southwest. lives were changed, ladies swooned, and legends were born. it was that kind of a weekend.

now it is back to work...the next 14 days being important days in the life of CTK Durango. these are exciting times...

00959

the roommate is in...i have survived a month in colorado...a good friend is coming to spend the weekend...life is good!

00259

i have a place to live...not the classiest joint in town but it will do for now. it feels to finally have a sense of home even if there is still a lot left to do to be settled. i also opened a bank account, did the change of address thing...so some things are finally getting checked off the list.

the next major thing is the job...one of our goals (for chip and i) is to be bi-vocational for as long as we can. right now, though, i'm just vocational.

i'd like to end this posting by promoting the book and bands that i am enjoying very much at the moment. i'm reading this book by george hunter called "the celtic way of evangelism," and it is pretty good. the book is part history, part missiology, and part critique of the modern church's evangelistic approach. i hate summing a book with so many great thoughts in one statement but i guess the best way to describe the celtic approach without giving you the whole book is this: "helping people to belong so that they can believe." that should be enough to pique your curiosity.

then the band of the moment (or the last two months) is "angels and airwaves." i didn't think i'd like this band at first, but the music is very enjoyable and all the more so after visiting their website (www.angelsandairwaves.com). anyone who interested in "exegeting the culture" should check their page out.

that's it for now.

00159

so, i'm here...made it to durango safe and sound, thanks in great part to the man, my new hero, JP. thanks bro for all your help.

i have three applications completed and in the system for job opportunities, i seriously pursued buying a condo but it didn't work out in the end so i am still looking for housing. i got a cell phone. i took the penske to grand junction. i saw Ouray, CO for the first time and someday when i write my bestseller i will buy my vacation home there.

i still have a ton of things to do: find a place to live, find a roommate, learn more about real estate, get a new bank, get a job, register my car, blah blah blah blah blah.

i am very tired!

but i am stoked to be here.