A Very Cliche Entry

Two weeks of sloth. That's why I haven't entered a new entry since mid-December. Okay, so it hasn't been sloth but after a busy Christmas and prioritizing vacation time with family (including sis, mom, and dad) I'm back in the swing of things.

I'll be cliche and talk resolutions. How are yours coming? Do you have any. It's a big year for New Year resolutions, the new decade and all.

Easy resolutions for me? More coffee, more ice cream, watch more tv. I've done very well with those.

Tough resolutions? Keep a budget, run everyday, wake up earlier. (Did you know in the PNW, sunrise is like at 8 something and sunset at 4 something. Your body says it's early. The alarm clock says 7:15 - yikes, get up!)

I've run 6 days in a row and I'm guessing this streak won't last. If it doesn't, no worries. At least I'll try to work off as much of that ice cream as possible. There are people highlighted in Runner's World every so often who talk about running everyday for years. Wow, once a week often seems like an accomplishment - with 4 hours of dishes, laundry, vacuuming, cooking, and cleaning each day.

My take on resolutions? I like 'em mostly. It seems like we're just trying to be the best people we possibly can be! Or in biblical terms, "honoring our body as a temple of God" Though I typically set resolutions and eventually succumb to busyness or lazyness, I have to remind myself that there's only so much I can do by myself.

If you're not a person who follows Christ intentionally and passionately everyday, let me try to explain what the Bible communicates. Christians believe that though we are held to a high standard and can "do all things through Christ's strength", we also acknowledge that we battle sin and "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (if this is confusing to you, it may take a bit of study to further comprehend). Anyway, the gist is not quite "the devil made me do it" or "I couldn't help it", but more like it's very difficult to live the way we want to all the time. So yeah, we are hypocrites - not always doing what we say. We believe it is necessary to allow God to do a lot of the driving (you know, like that country song?).

I guess in summary, may your resolutions be successful, but don't take it too hard if you don't fully live up to those goals. Of course, if your resolutions include things like "evade your taxes" or "annoy your neighbors," then that's a different conversation.

Let It Snow!

Lifelong beach bums don’t often have the chance at a white Christmas. Since Jana and I had to readjust our weather gauges a bit (50 is cold and 80 is hot) growing up in California beach towns, we look forward to a few payoffs…like snow on Christmas day, without a 3 hour drive.

The past 2 weeks in Seattle were COLD. (Note to Minnesotans: approximately your Spring Break weather.) 17 degrees at 9AM heading for work and mid 30s for the high. My skin has been dry and cracked like one of those Death Valley floor photos. We rooted for a little moisture during this cold snap because it would mean snow. Of course the cloud cover is somewhat of an insulator, bringing the temps into the 40s. So here we were – December in Seattle and 2 weeks without rain. Finally, Sunday night it happened. A couple hours of snowflakes. I was pushing the younger two kids in the baby jogger when it began. Later that evening we got the girls out of bed when the street was covered with snow. But within minutes it began to rain, melting it all away.

Talking about the weather is actually something I love. It’s a good conversation starter and I think in my next life, metaphorically speaking (not trying to compromise theologically), I’d be a weathercaster – I just love watching the Weather Channel. Anyway, it’s funny how people I talked with spoke about the potential snow with such disdain and fear. Yeah, I wasn’t here last year when it shut down the city for a week and helped the mayor lose his bid at reelection I’m told, but come on – snow is cool.

With all apologies to those who live in the snow, own snow shovels, and maybe even a snow blower, I’d love a white Christmas (or just a snowy day). It’s one of life’s simple pleasures. One of God’s miracles. Not only am I awed by snow, but I love watching my kids react too. They talk about it constantly and they can’t wait ‘til we pack up the car, drive 40 miles east and actually go play in it this winter. Knowing how those in colder climates often despise it, I wonder what I swear off as an annoyance or take for granted that someone who lives elsewhere craves: the Phoenix businesswoman in July who yearns for Seattle’s rain; the Kansas college student who’d love to see my Pacific Ocean; the Florida surfer who wonders how people on the West Coast live without humidity; the teacher in Southern California who’d love to exchange a few sunny days for the greenery of the Northwest.

Though I’m jealous of Arizona’s golfing winters (someday I’m gonna be a snowbird), with each passing day I become more appreciative of what I have that I didn’t for a little while. The rain isn’t so bad – it sure beats weekly blizzards. 40 degree weather isn’t so bad – running by the lake at 20 something degrees was a bit tough. “The daily grind” isn’t so bad – that guy I met last week was just laid off just in time for Christmas. Yep, I’m gonna appreciate the little things.

She Gets It!

It was a day not easy to forget. Hopefully the beginning - not the last. It's partly why we came here - and it worked.

Our church's youth group goes to downtown Seattle once a month to serve the homeless. It's part of the sad reality of city life. Having previously lived in a remote, smaller town, it was much more difficult to find this type of suffering (though it's everywhere). But in the big city, it's in your face: people asking for money on the freeway offramps, men lined up to find work near Home Depot, women with tattered clothing sleeping on park benches.

From very early on I realized my sins of greed and selfishness have been passed on to my kids. Whether it's an "I want" campaign in every shopping aisle at Target or an "I deserve" attitude during the Christmas season. I don't speak as an expert or a holier than thou pastor - I share that very indifference to the poor too often.

So last Sunday came the opportunity to continue chipping away at that gross veneer we share. Meris (1st grade) and I joined the high school students and a few families on their monthly excursion of service. We passed out socks and granola bars to a few grateful men, then we headed to a "soup kitchen" that serves the homeless daily. I stood behind my brave and newly confident 7 year old who offered dinner rolls to about 300 people. They came up one by one while I asked, "How are you doing?" (Duh, stupid question but seemingly the right one) and intensely studied each face. Young, old, weathered, sad, hopeful, vacant - the whole gamut. I could be just one job loss or different childhood from sharing their current plight.

The pinnacle moment for me was to watch the proverbial lightbulb turn on. In the midst of our abundance (she's knowingly getting her first $95 American Girl Doll for Christmas), she grasps poverty in her hometown. As she eagerly awaits opening up her "Kit" doll in a few weeks (Kit is a fictitious girl who lives during the Great Depression and a kids' movie which boldly depicts hunger and poverty in the 30s features Kit as its main character.) She turns to me and says, "I'm serving bread to people who need food - just like Kit." A powerful, emotional moment which jolted me like a current of electricity. As she humbly resumed passing out bread, in a nanosecond I realize: she gets it, our move was worth it, and I'm so proud of her.

Date Night

So we finally had a date night! They’ve been few and far between the past year: three small kids, adoption attachment concerns, and joblessness yielding no spending money. So we found a babysitter – she’s too good to be true (so we won’t share her phone number J). We drove to the fancy mall 20 minutes away and found an open table at the 4th restaurant we walked into. No rice to pick off my clothes, no half-chewed Splenda packets to retrieve from the grips of tiny hands, and the only interruptions to our free-flowing conversations…“Would you like a refill?”

Since dinner didn’t last two hours and since neither of us had gigantic milk stains all over our pants requiring immediate laundering, we were free to go to the movies. Do you go to the movies? Are you like us these days – 2 movies in the theaters per year? So even though there wasn’t a blockbuster out – besides Twilight (which Jana has already seen – but that’s another post), we saw “The Blind Side.” From the moment I first saw that movie previewed months ago, I knew I wanted to avoid it.

Why you ask? Yes it’s a football movie my wife was willing to go to, but the central topic was adoption. Given the circumstances that were evident from the 30 second television preview, I knew it would get ugly. That’s right – crying. Most guys panic around criers, if not downright fear them. How am I supposed to put up with all that blubbering? The movie wasn’t 15 seconds old when the waterworks began. This high school kid is essentially homeless: cry. His mom isn’t capable of loving him: more tears. A “have it all together” family is turned upside down as it changes for the better: boohoo. Skipping to the end, because this blog is only so long, the end credits show the resulting photos (I won’t spoil the movie for you): waaaaaaaaah.

As the credits finish rolling, Jana looks at me and says, “Oh, honey. You’re so cute when you cry.” So I get a bit emotional about adoption, but of course you know that given last week’s entry.

Thankful for Doro Wat

Doro what? Nope Doro Wat. It's this incredible Ethiopian spicy chicken dish. There's a faint similarity to the Mexican dish Mole. Doro Wat is kind of soupy, but really a main course! You eat it not with utensils but with injera - kind of a sour pancake that perfectly harmonizes with the tear producing entree. How clear was that description?

Anyway, it's easy to title any blog "thankful" this week for obvious reasons. It's extra special for us. 365 days ago (and just before first trying Doro Wat) we met our favorite Ethiopian: Elias. He's been with us a whole year. How quickly time has passed. Three short moves ago (Ethiopia to CA to TX to WA) we picked him up for the first time: chubby, googley eyes, bald, and beautiful brown skin. He was heavy then to pick up and even harder to lift now, already eating us out of house and home. His smile is unmatched - except for his sisters' smiles. His laugh and screech unequaled. His temper at times uncontrollable. His hugs unfathomable to a parent not fully his.

"Uh oh" you may say. Don't get me wrong: he's mine, all mine (okay his mom's too). But as an adopted child I know that some day he will have to wrestle with loss. Though his birth-mom couldn't care for him, Elias may someday be saddened at her decision. It breaks my heart already, especially since this is a special child. But he has to know that we're all adopted. He belongs not to us, but to God. For those unfamiliar with the Bible, there is a concept that conveys the fact that He wants to adopt all of us. Adopted - we are chosen. The God of the universe chooses us for relationship. This is love.

How amazed we were last night to celebrate Gotcha Day - his one year anniversary with us, the ones who chose him. We went to an Ethiopian restaurant in Seattle called Lalibela. The smells of injera, doro wat, and beef tibs was intoxicating. A flood of memories of that wonderful day resurfaced. In conversing with an Ethiopian man, Jana found out the full meaning of his given name, Abinet, which means "example" as in "a Godly example to others." Wow! Is that incredible? To me it is. I do truly hope and pray daily that his name will be prophetic. That his imperfect, doting father will do just enough to translate God's love for Elias in my words and actions. That though he was adopted, he is just as loved as my parents love me.

But "an example" he has already been. Though we hear the occasional "good for you" approval for our politically correct 2009 international adoption (though not covered in People Magazine), we realize more and more each day that it's never been about that. We have been blessed more than we have given. "An Example" of God's love for us he is. "An Example" of the simplicity of life he is. "An Example" of unconditional love he is. My hope is to return the example to him.

Rebooting

What technological change have you witnessed in your lifetime? I remember telephones when they were big and clumsy and the only answering machines were mom or dad. Or that computer my friend Andrew got in 7th grade – a Commodore 64. Now that was cool!

The past 2 days at PLCC, we’ve been without email or internet. We can’t even access our email from off-site locations. It has caused a medley of groans and the need to rethink how we work. It’s incredible how I rely so much on technology – specifically the computer. I had to take my truck to get repaired, didn’t have a phone book and couldn’t find the directions online – what to do? I’ve got multiple messages to send to Sunday school teachers about Sunday’s events – communication is impossible! What am I supposed to do, call people on the phone? That’s so 3 years ago. Without email I’m forced to rethink how I operate.

Have you ever been forced to reboot: your computer crashes; your cell phone gets dropped in the toilet? What about a serious event like a serious car accident? How about cancer? Though we depend on technology, health, safety, none are guarantees. Working at a church you are exposed to people who need rebooting all the time. People suffer from disease, broken relationships, addictions, and loneliness. It is at these moments when people are forced to reboot. Life has crashed though this wasn’t the plan. It is a reminder that as much as I try, I am not in control.

There are benefits to crashing computers and suffering – perspective. Life becomes simple: some things I thought I needed, I really don’t. The extraneous is weeded out. As a person of faith I believe the only real hope is Jesus. Though I’m ignorant in saving my computer from viruses or my cell phone from dangerous bodies of water, as a pastor I am fortunate enough to walk with people who are rebooting their lives. I don’t have all the answers and I never make false promises. Like tech support I get to talk with people about their losses and frustrations. It helps me empathize and reminds me of what’s really important in life. What rebooting stories do you have?

Beauty within the Busyness

Beauty within the Busyness

What is your definition of busy? I think we all see it differently. Remember college? You held a job at the local pizza joint, took 19 credits, were dating someone special, and still had time for the intra-mural water polo team. That was busy…until you got a job where you couldn’t wear flip flops anymore, then got married, then bought a house, and then had a family.

Earlier this year, I was a stay at home dad who could barely dress out of his pajamas by noon. How could this be? Make coffee, clean up coffee, get junior out of bed, change the world’s most offensive diaper, give hugs (had to wait until after diaper change to ensure not transferring the leaky diaper to my own outfit), make breakfast, throw in a load of laundry, clean up breakfast, drive the 1st grader to school, pick up kids’ rooms, mop beautiful dark hardwood floor (that exposed every granule of dirt), get kids dressed, throw laundry into dryer, start second load, supervise kids playing in the backyard, remove kids’ clothing soiled with mud, redress children, pay bills online while kids watch Word Girl (very funny cartoon), get lunch ready, fold first load, put second load into dryer (which will be forgotten and sour by this time tomorrow), then clean up the remnants of lunch: peanut butter, jelly, banana, and milk all over the table and chairs, then rinse kids’ hair adorned with peanut butter, jelly, banana, and milk.

Fast forward a few months. I have a fulltime job (like that wasn’t a job) and when I come home at the end of a day of meetings, prayer, coffee, data entry, and conversations I get great big hugs. Then we eat, give the kids a bath, and when the last bedtime story is read, Jana appears to have been swallowed by the couch. I inquire, “Why are you so tired, dear?” Just as the words are coming out of my mouth, I get a deserved “are you an idiot” stare and in a nanosecond I remember my summer. A quick “just kidding honey” does the trick. Boy, can I think on my feet!

It is difficult to admit at times, but I’m sure thankful for the near bedlam that is raising three small children. Though each day can resemble the previous day, I try to remember the blessings within the monotony: I have kids (because some can’t), my kids are healthy (because some aren’t), I have a job (because many don’t), my kids took baths (because some kids don’t have a home), Jana does endless laundry (because we can afford clothes). In our infrequent dates (because we are busy and visiting Grandma doesn’t charge for babysitting) we can’t but help reminisce over the blessings we have. Despite the peanut butter in the hair, snot on our newly washed shirts, and incessant screaming in the car…God is good and our kids are priceless. There is beauty within the busyness.