The Shape of Things

As I was enjoying the sound of Kelly’s voice in the other room as she talked on the phone with a friend… I heard the subject of politics come up. This surprised me a bit due to the fact that she generally doesn’t talk politics all that much. All of sudden she walked downstairs and said… “Is Barack Obama Muslim?”

I said “No, he is a defiantly a Christian, where did you come up with that?” Her friend’s Grandpa had told her that he was Muslim.

Do we live in a country where even though there is 40 minute video called ‘Reconciling Faith and Politics’ on http://www.barackobama.com we can get issues so confused? Are we that uninformed? Am I uninformed?

This is a testament to the importance of pursuing and living in a diverse community. A place that challenges your thoughts and convictions. A place where tough issues can be discussed as respectful adults.

I feel like I am in that place… though I often take all the knowledge and thought around me for granted. I am known to be quite hard-headed, but I am learning a lot about tough ‘gray’ issues and a lot about myself.

For example… even though I haven’t been able to formulate my thoughts just yet, there is an interesting debate going on at my pastors blog regarding the “Gay Conversation“.

What are you thoughts people? Are we uninformed? If so… why?

Tonight Kelly and I watched our wedding video for the first time. Kelly Cone and her boyfriend Fritz were kind enough to record and edit the video for us. Thanks you guys!!

As we were watching the video Kelly cried more then a few times… I think she really misses her friends and family. We now live about 800 miles from those close friends and it has been hard on her. What I didn’t realize is that I really miss my buddies too. I don’t know what has happened between my friend Tom and I. We were tight… he moved to Seattle and we had a hard time adjusting for some reason. I am going to make a huge effort to pursue him as he is one of the greatest men I have ever met.

As for Aaron (da chef) he was my co-worker at HCC and turns out he also got a job where I work now. I received a call from him a couple weeks ago that shook me up. He called me out on our friendship. He asked me point blank why we were drifting apart. I felt like a total hypocrite… I always thought of myself as the guy that would bring up stuff like that. Aaron — thank you and I will certainly work harder at our friendship.

Steve — stud at seminary (demanding the big stage) haha… j/k kidding Steve-o. When watching the wedding video tonight we came upon the best man speech and Steve was talking about the early days of our friendship (talking computers, football) and then he had to pause… almost to catch himself from crying (I know I was close), he started talking about our days in a small group at MVC. Those were days of growth and relationships that I doubt I will ever reach again. I miss Steve like crazy. He is certainly the brother I never had.

Friendship is so hard… why is that? People come in and out of your life so my advice to all of you out there is to really truly enjoy your current relationships. Relish each moment because time flies and they won’t always be there.

The last 10 days my wife and I have had quite a few visitors in our home. Last weekend we had the honor of having my mom fly out from Minnesota to visit us. She has been going through some hard times with the illnesses of her mother and sister-in-law so we thought it would be nice to have her out for a relaxing weekend.

Then Tuesday night we had our “C Group” over from church. We host this group on a weekly basis. Typically there are around 8 - 10 that show up. We have dinner together, share stories, and pray for each other.

Wednesday night we had our next door neighbors over for dinner. I have to say my wife Kelly has become quite the cook. We had cashew chicken and it was excellent! It was really nice to get to know our neighbors a little bit better. They are currently engaged (to be married next spring) so maybe we can be hopefully help them out in the next few stressful months as we went through the same thing a year ago.

Finally tonight we hosted two of my co-workers and close friends, Dale and Aaron. Kelly cooked chicken curry and we watched the Golden State - Utah basketball game. It was a great night… even though Derek Fisher absolutely killed the warriors in the 4th quarter with 14 points!!

I guess what I am getting at in this post is that God has decided to bless us enough financially to purchase a home and we feel so grateful to be able to share that with family and friends. Community is a strange and funny thing. It is so hard to get to a point where you are truly living in community - and often if you do get there, people move away or you drift apart somehow. I am happy to say that I think we are getting to know lots of people here in Seattle and that we aren’t just “talking” about community, but we are actively pursuing it.

As I sit at Christina’s in Turlock I can’t help but ask the question: Where is Steve?

The simple answer is Dallas Theological Seminary. The long answer is one of the great young men of the central valley in California left Turlock last fall to educate himself in Dallas Texas… the same place that his long distance mentor Chip Ingram went to. 2006 will be known as the year of the exodus for me… I left Turlock in March, Aaron in July, Steve in August, and Tom in September. You could also throw my wife in there… Aug of 2005.

Steve, Tom, and Aaron were the 3 guys in our wedding party. So when I return to Turlock for the first time (11 months) since I got married and none of those guys are here it feels quite strange.

The one constant that I still have is my great friend Marco. I can’t really explain to you how much Marco means to me. He is one of those guys that you know cares about you. He wears it right on his sleeve. You know when you see a baseball player really digging deep trying to make a double out of a single. That is the best word picture I can come up with in regards to Marco’s attitude towards our friendship.

Tomorrow my wife and I will return to California for the first time as a married couple. We met in California, dated for 6 years, got engaged, and also had our wedding there. We have waited 11 months before returning mainly to follow God’s command to leave, cleave, and weave. I am referring to Genesis 2:24 which Roy Chapin quoted during our wedding ceremony.

Honestly it has been quite hard leaving behind Hilmar Cheese Company, Monte Vista Chapel, and many good friends. We have found a church here in Seattle, but I still do have reservations about joining the church. We are finding that Genesis 2:24 is easier said than done.

I feel so blessed to be married to such a wonderful person, there is nothing like the sound of my wife talking to family in the other room. I could listen to her for hours. I will admit though… it was quite strange when we first moved in with each other. I found out how selfish I really was/am. I also found out that Kelly leaves the kitchen cabinets open all the time… and Kelly found out that I drink all of the juice in the house before she has a chance.

I have found a bit of success in my career in the IT field. Recently I was promoted from SysAdmin II to Sr. SysAdmin. There are quite a few really smart and talented people around me that I owe for allowing me to grow into role. It was also a bit of luck, in that the person directly above me left the company to work for Microsoft. I guess I am hard working and lucky…

Finding friends in the northwest has been quite interesting. I actually had 2 really close friends move from Turlock to Seattle within 7 months of me moving here. I am sad to say, that I am not as close to them now as I was back in Turlock. Maintaining friendships is also something that is easier said then done.

I was fortunate enough to get a call from my buddy Steve today who is in his first semester at Dallas Theological Seminary. We lived in the same city for about 6 years and grew very close together, but since I moved to Seattle and him to Dallas it has been hard to stay in contact. Today however was absolutely great!! We talked for about 90 minutes about lots of things (seminary, marriage, singleness, free will, community, etc) and for that brief period it felt like old times.

I’ll leave you with a phrase that Steve brought up a couple times…

“faith seeking understanding”

define: faith
a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny

define: seeking
the act of searching for something

define: understanding
the cognitive condition of someone who understands

Tonight is the season opener for the NFL. Even though I am 850 miles away from the Fantasy Football League I started in California, I will still dominate!!