Where I'm At ~or~ Far From Home

So it's been a while since a general life update on here, or any kind of consistent posting. I wish that wasn't the case, but things got pretty busy really fast this summer, and this blog kinda slipped in the old priority list.

But now--now, I'm stranded here in Tulsa, alone on a Saturday night with a mountain of reading and writing to do and a complete lack of any desire to do it. It was out of moments like this that this blog was birthed.

I guess I should start at the beginning. Of June. This summer in El Segundo was amazing. Absolutely incredible. It was probably the best summer of my life. The city is gorgeous and friendly and everything I hoped it would be, with a bustling Main Street within walking distance of just about everything, tons of local-owned sandwich shops where they enter your order almost as soon as they see your face, and a Farmer's Market that shuts everything down on Thursday afternoons. The weather is pretty much always room temperature, with a high of 75ish and a low of 65ish; the windows in my bungalow were open every day and every night. Oh, and the Pacific Ocean is just around the corner; I snuck down just to look at the water to fill up a couple of lunch hours on slower days.

While I was down there, I never really thought that I went to the beach all that much, but, sitting down and thinking about it now, I probably hit it up four or more times a week. Something about the sand and the water and the wind and the nature of it all just never got normal to me. It was always breathtaking when I reached the top of the hill on Grand and could finally glimpse the waters beneath.

The church was awesome, too. Instead of assigning me the random intern jobs that no one else wanted, they actually took the time to find out what my passions and strengths in ministry were and then worked with me to design places for me to use those in conjunction with their ministry. It was really cool and gave me a lot of opportunities to test myself in real youth ministry situations. I was amazed with how quickly the staff welcomed me into their lives and their work and supported me and valued my opinion on all sorts of things that I didn't really feel qualified to give an opinion on. It was scary, but in a good way.

The people were also great. My biggest fear going into the summer was that it usually takes longer for people to begin liking me than I was going to spend out in El Segundo, but as the summer unfolded I really quickly fell into some really great new friendships and reopened a couple of old ones. When I first arrived I thought that I'd have loads of time alone in my bungalow to read and study, but between work and hanging out with all the great people I met, I ended up spending very little time back there at all.

There was also a girl. She's pretty amazing. If you want any more of a story than that, shoot me an e-mail, or call or IM me or just stop me walking through the GC and I'll be glad to tell you all about it.


But that's the summer...I think. I mean, there are a ton more stories than that, and maybe over the course of time you'll hear them all. But for now, I think that'll do.

Now I'm back in Tulsa. I've got a ton of work ahead of me this semester. But then there's a bright glowing future somewhere after that and I can't wait to get to it.

Peace, love, and joy to you all.

A Realer Post About California

It's awesome.

El Segundo, for those of you wondering, really is a small town stuck on the side of LA. I'm right south of LAX (and am nearly constantly reminded of the fact when I'm at the house where I'm staying), north of a huge Chevron oil refinery, west of highway 1 and east of the ocean. It's pretty rockin.

I can't go anywhere with staff members without running into several sets of people that we (meaning they) know. Last night, just to pick up some Chicken Dijon we ran into no less than 3 different groups of people, all out on unrelated errands who wanted to talk to us.

I, having lived here only five days, have already run into somebody that I know out on the streets. Walking home from work today, I ran into one of the members of El Segundo Foursquare Church who happened to be picking his child up from daycare as I was walking by. I refused his offer for a ride home not because I had anything against him, but because it was such a gorgeous day in El Segundo today.

I've been to the beach a little. I'm planning on going back on Friday sometime.

This experience is really stretching and exciting and scary and hard and amazing. I love the people here; I don't know that I've ever felt accepted into a group so quickly. And, instead of really putting me to work on their pet projects, they've really given me the opportunity to tell them what I enjoy doing and try to figure out ways to build ways for me to do that as part of the greater mission of ES4sq.

Which is really cool. And at least a little frightening. I just really want to do well.

I think that's all I've got tonight. I hope y'all are having wonderful summers, and I hope to hear from all of you soon.

Peace, love, and joy to you all.

Itching to Write Something

I have really wanted to write for a long time now. It feels like it's been last semester since I was able to write anything of weight on here. So, this is lame, but it's just kind of a life update. Maybe it'll grow into something else. Regardless,

1) This is by far the most difficult semester of school I've ever taken: two dead languages, Systematic Theology, a BibLit course, English (jazz.), and the indescribable experience which is Signs & Wonders. Last weekend was the first weekend of the semester in which I didn't have to write a paper...and so I had two tests this week instead. If I make it through this, though, next (the final) semester will be cake.

1b) I feel like I should mention that jazz is the new lame. I don't really know why, but it just is.

2) I have this weird idea about trains just floating through my mind, specifically that I'm never on the right one. I feel like I catch glimpses of these amazing women, but we're always kinda heading the wrong directions, or traveling separate, or whatever. But whatever. Maybe there's more to solitude than I've given it credit.

3) I have no idea what's going to be going on next spring in my life. Any ideas will be met with great appreciation.

4) This summer has been booked: El Segundo, California, mid-May to mid-August.

5) We Christians have too many rules. Oh well.

I'm really tired. There's a post in my drafts folder on here that's been brewing for about 3 months. Hopefully I'll remember to finish it this week.

Peace, love, and joy to you all.