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?

Alright folks… if you live in the Seattle area and you want a Wii (you know you do) here is one to buy:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ele/347417585.html

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.

This past weekend the church that Kelly and I attend merged with another church called Interbay.

I find this is be quite interesting due to the fact that you really don’t see a lot of churches in the inner city. Typically churches will close down there doors, sell the property to a developer that will want to build condos and then move the congregation out to the ‘burbs.

Not Quest and Interbay. They are going to continue to spread the love and grace of Christ to Seattleites.

A couple posts on the merger from Pastor Eugene:
an incredible legacy
we are one

It was also covered by one of the local papers:
2 very different Seattle churches decide to unite

For Christmas my wife got me tickets to see the sonics and blazers. We took the bus down to Key Arena tonight to see the battle of the 2 worst teams in the western conference.

They were handing out posters and towels outside the arena for free. Of course I had to had one… I threatened to hang up the poster in the living room of our new house… that didn’t get very far.

The game was ok, Rashard Lewis had a great game. It was also nice to see Brandon Roy come back to Seattle. He is quite the player… should get rookie of the year no problem.

We walked home from the game. Took about 40 min or so. Now my legs are sore… I’m getting old.

Saturday morning was possibly the best weather we have had this year in Seattle so the wife and I decided to check out a new park… Seward Park.

We walked around the entire park… about 2.5 miles, and it was absolutely beautiful. My wife kept saying how she couldn’t believe that we had never been there before. We had fun picking out our favorites dogs… mine was a well behaved golden lab… my wifes was just about any dog with 4 legs.

Today I got up early (for a Saturday) and grabbed the paper on my way to breakfast. I decided on a place up on NW 85th St.

Wild Mountain Cafe:
Website
Yelp

The staff was very friendly and the place had quite a bit of charm. It looked like it was a house converted into a restaurant with hard wood floors and enchanting little rooms through out.

I decided to sit at the counter with another local who had brought his dog with him. There was a large window in the front where we could see his dog eating and just enjoying the sunny weather on the porch.

I ended up ordering the ‘joe schmoe‘, which is a standard bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast. The bacon was excellent, and the hash browns had garlic I believe. All in all, it was a place I would definitely go back to.

On Sunday afternoon my wife and I went down to an area of Seattle I had not only never been to, but had never even heard of… Madison Park. On our way there we stopped off on a few of the side streets to admire the older classic homes.

Madison Park itself was ok. It reminded me of a place where wealthy execs live and take there sail boats out during the weekends. A bit out of our price range, but nonetheless quite charming.