Change Comes Faster Than You Think

It's been quite some time since I last posted because honestly, there just hasn't been time. I have been running to and fro, trying to keep it all together, and when I get super busy like this, stuff like blogging kind of falls to lower rung on my priorities list. I don't think I have very many people reading this blog anyways, so I'm not too worried about it. Most of the people who really want to know already know much of what is going on in my life, so this blog should take care of all the rest of you guys!

First for the trivial: I did get a second tattoo, which is great. I was told when I got my first that these sorts of things just snowball on themselves, which has turned out to be true. I had the Bible verse Romans 12:1 tattooed on my back, below my original. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures yet; otherwise, you could see it. You'll just have to ask next time you see me. Depending on who you are, by that time, I might have three tattooes or even ten! Ha ha, don't expect ten...

I have officially gotten all of my great benefits activated from working at Starbucks. It was pretty cool to be able to sign up for all of those myself and know now that if I actually hurt myself rock climbing, I can go to the doctor! I even have a life insurance policy. No actual benefactors yet, so I'm accepting applications. Best of luck to all who apply.

On a more serious note, I am actually taking a serious look at going back to school and getting a masters. Specifically, I am considering attending a seminary. There is a particular seminary down here in San Diego that I am looking at, not just because of its location, but also because of its programs offered. We shall see what that path may hold. I've simply had so many people tell me that I should go to seminary and that I would be good in seminary that I think it's finally time I listened and went to seminary. Since graduating college, I have gained a new appreciation for learning and the active application of the mind, especially as it pertains to spiritual matters. Engaging my mind, particularly in thinking critically about the culture I live in and how to reach out to people within that culture has become much more of an active pursuit for me than it was before. It my early years of ministry, I feel that I was definitely taught to take a method that had been used in the past and simply apply it to a culture in faith, hoping to find success. I have rejected that method of ministry and outreach wholeheartedly and now hope to become a lifetime student of the culture I am a part of in order to shape my personal ministry and any ministry I may lead. There is much more dynamism to a ministry that actually humbles itself to a culture, releases some control over the "necessary" procedures, and uses program as a tool, not an end in and of itself. So, there's that.

For those of you who don't know, I was in a car accident on April 19. It SUCKED! I am physically fine, but my car was completely totalled. In short, I was driving down a road here in San Diego and another driver started making an unprotected left turn into oncoming traffic (me). I hit my brakes and my horn, tried to turn, but there wasn't anything I could do to prevent the accident. The front end of my car was just demolished. My airbags went off, my windshield spidered completely. It was bad!!! Obviously, I'm not at all at fault, but my car is gone. Richard (my car) has been deemed a total loss and I will be reimbursed appropriately. I am driving a sad excuse for a rental and actively looking for what I will be getting next, while awaiting the payout for my car. So, that's that!

I have begun talking seriously with a few friends of mine about founding an intentional community. For those of you who don't know what that is, or think that it's just a crazy hippy idea, allow me to shed some light on the subject. It is a living situation with a number of people (we're shooting 6-10) living in a common space, sharing possessions, sharing lives, and generally allowing the familial relationships that are formed to transform us and the circles in which we live. Especially in this day and age, in the culture that we live in, personal space is very deeply valued, and maybe even idolized. This occurs to the point where many end up living lives predominantly isolated from one another, with no overlap or outside contact beyond what is absolutely necessary to function. Too often do I meet and talk with people about this idea, only to have them say to me, "Wow! That's a really cool idea, but I could never do that." And certainly, this is not the situation for everyone. There are many good, legitimate reasons for which a person should not enter into this kind of living situation. I don't want to call down judgment on myself by rashly condemning other people who really couldn't live in such a situation. But if I am honest, when someone says that to me, my initial thought is, "Is that really true? Could you really never do that? Or do you just really not want to?" Call me a jerk, but that's what goes through my head. This intentional community is such a drastically different way of living that goes completely against the cultural norm right now that I think it will be a powerful tool of outreach to those around me at a ground floor type of level. To foster the type of community and family that so many are missing, potentially even within one's own family, can be an amazing witness to the people in my life of a better way to live. We want to be a spiritually minded group of people who actively place themselves in a situation where they will be pushed and challenged and transformed in order to introduce real, lasting change in a culture so desperate for it. For me, it is all truly about introducing the Kingdom of God here on earth and actively incarnating the Gospel in my own life in order to help others do the same. As I often say, it could be amazing...

Those are the major updates in my life thus far. More to come as time permits. Thanks for reading!