Family Update: From the Beach to the Redwoods

Well, well, well...Landing back in the U.S. last night from a trip up to Vancouver symbolized the temporary landing of Janny and I in a few ways. Here is a bullet point version of the past month or so:
- Still working through the miscarriage of our first child (named Haven) and trying to muster up the courage, amid lots of fear and anxiety, to start again.
- Decided to study in Israel this summer @ Jerusalem University College! Fits perfectly into my Master's program @ Fuller and Janny will audit the class right along side. We are in the application/detail portion of the process, but things look good.
- In an effort to live more simply and free ourselves up to study in Israel and possibly go on board with a non-profit, we have moved from our little cottage by the beach in Santa Cruz, up to a little studio in the redwoods of Mt. Hermon.
- I continue to teach Adult Education @ North County H.S. and am coaching the H.S. golf team. I will be speaking at Harbor Chapel(our former church community) in May, Mount Hermon this summer and at the National Youth Workers Convention this fall. My book is taking form (art,editing,proofreading, etc...) and is projected to be released on July 16th. Also, I finished another quarter of studies @ Fuller this past Friday. Officially completed my Hebrew language requirements! Shalom.
- Between two spa's, lots of subbing and our recent move, Janny has been working her little tail off. She subbed for a 4th grade class a couple weeks ago and the school fell in love with her. They offered her a full time position (at least through the end of this school year) teaching 4th grade. She has a love/wanna pull out her hair kind-of relationship with the kids as they have enough energy to fuel a large city. No clue how she does it, but she is super motivated and cares for them alot.
- We have continued to be in dialog with a non-profit called Nieucommunities about the possibility of partnering with them. Janny and I got to spend this past weekend with the community at their site in Vancouver, Canada. Great people, with a hopeful vision for mission, church and mentorship in the way of Jesus.

Old Memories and New Hope

It is weird how something as material as an old pick-up truck can stir up so many memories and nostalgia. A few weeks ago, Janny and I sold my '96 Chevy S10. I owned it for almost 10 years! Janny and I have our 5th wedding anniversary coming up on March 19th and it has been 10 years since we started dating. In other words, this crazy old, broken down most of the time truck is filled with memories. Road trips all over the state, tear filled airport drop offs when Janny lived over sees for a semester, camping trips when we didn't have a tent so we slept in the back...on and on and on. Cheers to the old beast!

Also, last night my buddy Allen went with me to hang out with our friends at the homeless shelter. Before we started serving the meal I saw Lyle and was able to catch up with him for a bit. I asked if there was anything new going on and between bites he looked up at me and said, "I got a job!" It was so fun to see his excitement. He said that it was not only helping him financially, but it was helping him mentally and emotionally. His eyes were filled with hope. Cheers to Lyle and some new hope!

Kingdom Inhabitants: Part 3

I wasn't sure if Lyle remembered my name or even our conversations. After turning down my lunch offer by not showing up at the taqueria a few weeks earlier, I had assumed to have only been a blip on his radar. Of course, why would I have been anything else? I was just another privileged white guy who drove a functioning car, slept in a warm bed, had a constant life companion(Janny...and Harry) and only worried about eating LESS food, not finding ANY food. I came to find out that these were assumptions of some of the ways I would view the "privileged" if I were in Lyle's shoes...he is much more mature than I.

Every Sunday at about 3:30pm I show up at the shelter and hang around with my new friends. Al the Chef stands outside the kitchen among all the folks lining up for the meal and smokes his pipe(tobacco!)with a smirk of pride at having finished cooking a meal for 200 people. He doesn't talk much, but with a Sherlock Holmes-like pipe...there is no need for words. Every once in awhile I will bring mine and stoically stand next to him. I feel like a 4 year old trying to imitate my father reading the paper with coffee in hand, but instead of coffee mug I am using a sippy cup and reading an Elmo picture book.

Although at times it feels like a burden to commit this time to hang out with my new friends, once I am there I can't imagine missing out. After standing next to Al the Chef like his little padawan, I milled through the crowd of tooth missing, 7 layer wearing, long beard toting Inhabitants of the Kingdom. Through the crowd I saw my friend Lyle. He saw me right away and counter to my assumptions, it didn't take him long to remember our conversations. In fact, one of the first things he said was, "you invited me to lunch!" We got to catch up for the next 15 minutes before I went back into the kitchen to take my post in the food line.

Every week I learn new names and hear new stories. My intentions are to be the embodiment of Jesus to my friends(Matt. 5:48), but in reality I have the opportunity to smile into Jesus' face with each passing tray of stew.