Conference, Schmonference

Oh boy. I'm looking at that last post and I'm so tempted to delete it. I sound like such a baby.

Anyway, the writing seminar was amazing (amazing? what a bland word. As I writer, I should be ashamed). As I hoped, it was a chance to meet and talk with other writers who volunteered, and several people were interested in helping the kids we work with in different ways.

I'm bringing Aziz back tomorrow. I think he'd get a huge boost from the whole thing.

By the way, I met someone running a big conference on medical volunteerism. Any of our readers do medical-oriented work? Water cleanliness? Health programs? Would you like to attend? Let me know. I'd love to get you connected.

Running the Trinity

My brother Eric and I have been running regularly since late Spring, and we do what brothers do- spur one another on through competition and dares. One of our little challenges is a 5 mile run which climaxes in a knot of steep hill climbs that we call "Trinity." It's pretty tough for both of us.

I dubbed the run Trinity because it boasts three distinct steep climbs but only one steep hill. While I came up with the name as a joke (other potential names were "The Three Ugly Stepsisters," and "Hell"), I did some thinking as I approached the first climb today which continued through the rest of the jog.

The trinity is the weak point of the Christian faith, logically speaking. Pretty much anyone who wants to argue against Christianity goes for absurdity of the Trinity. It's an easy place to start, and it is one of the central concepts of our theology.

To me, the Trinity is a reminder of several important truths, all of which affect the way i minister and relate to the international community. Here, in bullet point form, are the few I meditated on as I ran:

• The fact that the Trinity is beyond the reach of our reason, and central to our faith, is beautiful. It's a reminder of how the heart and nature of God is so far beyond the reach of our minds. This got me thinking about working with the kids, and how we really can't explain everything they need to know about God. They can only grow in understanding by relating to Him.
• For the fact that our faith is built upon a mysterious, divine relationship, we Christians sure put a great deal of effort into quantifying everything. I want to steer clear of reporting numbers as if they show success, and I want to remain sensitive to the fact that God's work in human lives is profoundly diverse and totally unpredictable.
• The only two legit responses to mystery are rejection and worship. We must choose one. About three years ago, I found the Christian faith beyond the reach of my reason. I could either turn away because I didn't understand, or I could open my heart and engage the mystery. The latter was worship, and by the grace of God, I chose it. Thankfully, he has sustained this sense of worship through so many dramatic shifts in thinking.

Well, I finished the run, and upon arrival back at our apartment complex, saw Iver, Adelaine, and Anderson playing baseball. The outworking of my thinking on the Trinity was to choose, despite my exhausted feeling, to join the game. It was God's gift to me to experience the joy of relationship with these kids after working through such a complex web of thoughts.

I guess the point of all this is just that I am thankful. Despite the fact that I can't figure the mechanics of God's love, He still reaches me with his Truth in the middle of day-to-day challenges and relationships. "Ministry" is merely the context where I intentionally seek experiences of His magnificent, totally incomprehensible love at work in and through me.

I hope everyone is as baffled and awed about this experience as I am.

One Thing After Another

Yesterday morning, my friend Aaron called unexpectedly. He is a trucker, and his work brought him through Atlanta. He spent the night at our place last night, and asked me if I wanted to help with a job he had to do. We awoke this morning and set out to get the job done.

While I was out, Eric taught guitar lessons to Melvin, Jennifer, and Lesly. They had a great time. Ruthie kept hearing them erupt into laughter.



I got home from an intense day's work just in time to meet our friends Josh and Margaret. We watched The Triplets of Belleville, one of my favorite movies.

Josh is a stellar musician, as is my brother Eric. After the movie, we all started jamming, but I quickly realized that my continued participation could only hurt the musical outcome.

Right before Josh and Margaret left, we opened a great conversation about work in this community. We walked them out to their car, then had to tear ourselves from the conversation so they could get home.

An Open Home

A small knock, low on the door, caught Ruthie's attention today. When she opened it, Britney stood there, trying not to cry. She had come home from the playground to find no one at her apartment.

By the time I returned home from the bookstore, Britney sat on the couch with a book and some cookies. I picked up a short story anthology I was reading, and we sat together in the living room, reading, watching our iguana clamber around by the window, and laughing as Britney stumbled over bigger words.

Every few minutes, we took Britney back to her apartment to check for her parents, and she finally got in.

Of course, this happened on the very day when I was thinking about the privilege of opening your home to people.

There's a common practice around here of taking people out or meeting them for things, but not letting them into our homes. I feel like it's a shame. When we invite kids or strangers or foreigners into our homes, we invite Jesus in.

I feel like Britney's presence in our home today, and the presence of all the kids and adults who pass through our apartment, is more a gift to us than it is to them.

So, readers, here's a challenge: Bring someone you don't know that well into your home, open your life to him/her, and see what happens. Post your experience in the comments field or shoot me an e-mail at northpapers@gmail.com. You'll be shocked at how God reveals himself.

Pandemonium at Huntington Creek

My friend Jonathan Kotulski and I did a lot of songwriting together in Chicago, and right before I left, we compiled an album called Ghost Town Revival.

We approached Jonathan's brother, Joseph, about helping us develop a blog for the music we were creating. He agreed, and as we planned it out, the vision shifted from a music blog to one that would feature off-kilter-Americana in different media, created by all three of us.

The blog went up today at http://ghosttownrevival.wordpress.com. Joey posted a great picture of a fallen tree, and I wrote a short piece to set the mood for things to come.

Also, on a more ministry-related note, we had quite the event today. My sister Lisa taught a lesson on the good shepherd that captivated the kids for 30 minutes (with this crowd, that's an achievment).

Next, thanks to the creative genius of Jeanne McLarty, our arts and crafts leader from Mt. Zion Baptist Church, things got pretty crazy.

The one rule of our shaving cream free-for-all was not to get it in anyone's face. I can't say that one was too strictly enforced.