I live in LA now and it hit me just about two weeks ago that maybe this will be home, for a long time. This was a scary moment for me. When I left Grand Rapids I had this sense that I was just saying, ‘later on’ or ‘see you wednesday’… something like that. If we had coffee together this summer you probably picked up on this. It may have sounded like I was going to see you next week. But weeks have passed, in fact it has been a half year already, nearly to the day. I have talked about you more than anything; you have offered me your very lives, thanks for the stories. Here is an update to my story:
I haven’t stopped thinking about church plants or teachings since the Shoes Off retreat one November hanging with students at KCC. I was in a field, after something very odd happened in a gathering one night, and sensed a weight to the things I was dreaming and thinking about. I suppose that is why I am out here, to see some divine leading to its edge-then jump. So just about a month ago, being frustrated with the stillness wanting to surf, but finding God guiding and focusing my restlessness, I met Nick. He is planting a church in the LA area and just so happened to be from G-RAP. We had a great conversation, I took a church planting test (did well and met with an executive presbyter), and am on my way to Nashville to a testing center for a few days in April. If you know how I feel about standardized tests you may be chuckling, knowing this sort of thing nearly kept me out of college and in the woods for a bit to long. But I was with a group of youth pastors this week for a breakfast meeting and we were learning from one another and I remember a moment listening to this guy Drew, who I had just met, talk about his students and I just teared up. Restored relationships and love, the way of Jesus, will never be frustrated by some test. So off I go, jumping you might say. Prayers, questions and comments are welcomed.
I hadn’t thought a ton about it, at least not seriously, for about a year. Until this pass Halloween as I sat on the beach in Santa Barbara, alone. I had my wetsuit half on and was staring at a sailboat half burried in the sand. I thought, “I know how you feel, boat.” Women, that you want to sail the oceans with only come around once and a while. They are not saviors nor are they singular. But they have their eyes on the horizon and a hand on the wheel. Their on the way, and so am I. My friend said this whole thing has a lot to do with timing while another friend said it has everything to do with choosing. So I am taking their words seriously and trust there with be a time to choose. Prayers, questions and comments are welcomed.
Some of you may have noticed I have been writing more. This is on purpose and even forced at times. Stories, have for me layers of meaning and in some ways have orientated the way I think. I was with some friends the other night and we were telling ghost stories, kind off. I told a few of my Appalachian Trail stories, ones many of you have heard-like the one about old Frank with his echoey voice. There is a narrative that the bible assumes on itself and it is the truest story I know. My stories are given meaning as they find connection to the larger sweep of the story of Jesus. So I started a project that I would like to bring to some sort of conclusion in the next year. It may end in publication or simply a creative project to share with you all; either way I sense this is something to be shared. White Blazes: a hairy in a wide open place, is in some ways the project’s testing ground. Prayers, questions and comments are welcomed.
Some sermons can be described as ‘three points and a poem’. And so now that I have made three points I feel as if I should end with a poem to summarize:
three thousand miles with definitive mixes I road
over mountains and hills from GR to LA I drove
home is place-ness and I am yet to be placed
your stories and lives have helped set the pace
of what it is to walk with people and their God
starting something new has always felt a bit odd
where this God has you I would surely like to know
is there sun or clouds maybe even snow?
cheers to resurrection and a season of put putting away
all the fake faces that convince us we are okay
I thought about stopping but ‘okay’ is no place to end
much love and peace to you dearest friend
