Here and There

The past week has been filled with a lot of exciting events happening, as you would guess, here and there.

Under the here category:

• We had a water softener installed. The important detail is that I had to stay up till 2:30 in the morning Thursday night to help the guy finish off the project.
• Found and purchased two really nice mountain bikes, a large tent, and camping stove on Craigslist all for under $140!
  
• Lani took her last college final Friday. She has a free week of coasting before commencement, then real life commences for her
• This week's highlight, Munya's (I grew up with him) parents arrived safe and sound for his graduation. We had the whole family over for dinner Friday night. Had a solid time, lot's of laughter and reminscing.
• In other "here" news, our friends Tim and Anna whom we feel win every contest they enter, won a free hotel night's stay at a very nice hotel in downtown Minneapolis. We're all green. (BACKGROUND: They've basically won something everytime they've called in to the radio. We on the other hand, have never won a mite in any contest all of our lives. Nothing. Zero, nada.)
• At different times in my life, I've benefited from my friends working in jobs that are particularly advantageous to my whimsical interests e.g. Justin worked at Dunn Bros. for a couple years. During that time I got a pound of fresh coffee beans every single week for free. Needless to say, that made me a coffee snob, but that's over now. Anyway, this Saturday evening is the occasion of another opportunity for us benefit from having friends in right places. My friend (shall remain nameless to protect the hungry) works in another prestigious Minneapolis hotel where he has ample access to numerous complimentary dinner meals at many of the cities' prime eateries. We're on the receiving end of one of these and aren't complaining.
  

There:

• Eric my man, is proudly in the motherland at the start of his six week tour of duty with Africa Inland Misssion (AIM). So excited for him!

Annivesary Weekend

This weekend was not only Mother's day, but also the first annivesary of our wedding. Our intention was to be able celebrate the day withou getting in the way of mother's day indulgencies, and it looks like we managed to pull it of.

We didn't do much to celebrate, just went out for dinner at cool restuarant and gorged ourselves. We ate a lot, what else are you supposed to do when they offer appetizer and desert buffets in addition to humongous sized entrees?

But the weekend is over now so we go back to business.

The Ultimate Human Quest

I got to hang out with one of the coolest people I know last night. Eric is quite possibly one of the funniest people I know, he's an all around phenomenal guy. On Monday he leaves for Canada, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Zanzibar, so this was our final rah-rah before he leaves. It was a good time.

We spent a good time of our time talking about the ultimate human quest and how God fits into that. Lately, I've come to the realization the ultimate quest that you and mutually strive for is a quest for significance. Deep beneath the charade you and I wear everyday in order to survive this calloused world we're in, lies a sharp pang for recognition and acceptance. This struggle is so vivid that many times you and I are running. We waste a lot of time striving for what the world dictates to us are the benchmarks of success because we think that if we attain those things, they'll be our fast track to acceptance by family, friends and the like. In the end this quest becomes a obsession to forces us to turn our backs on the two places that we're supposed to find that acceptance and love we so deeply desire; ourselves and God's story.

I happen not to think that this quest for significance and belonging is a bad thing. I think it's a God planted thirst in us. You and I are designed to be a part of something that is much bigger than the confines of the selfish horizons of our lives; we're made to be a part of God's story. Dan Taylor, one of my biggest inspirations, contemplates shalom as "the result of what happens when you and I find and abide by the roles God's scripted out for us." I think it was Shakespeare who talked about the world as "a stage and all we like players go about the business of sticking to our part." To me this quest for significance is at it's core not about self, but rather about fitting oneselve into the reality of what God is doing in this world. Not a bad thing at all.

Where I know I've gone wrong many times (and I think a lot of people also stray), is when it comes to setting and discovering milestones or benchmarks in this quest. Too many times, I've been so repudiated with grossness of my frailness that I've sought justification for God's love for me through doing stuff like being the everything person in my home church before I came to college. I've been guilty many times of thinking that if I do enough good things to outweigh all the bad things I do, that might tip the balance in my favor and qualify me for God's love.

Even worse, I've also thought (with the help of some of my family and friends) that if I get enough education, a good job, a family, a house, a car, cool clothes, speak the right language etc., people will recognize and appreciate my significance. So I 've wasted a lot of time running towards those fake ideals. Like an aborted pregnancy, each time I thought I had found it, I've been frustrated by the stillbirth of more dissatisfaction. That longing is still there, unfulfilled and even more profound.

Remember I still don't think the quest is in itself a bad thing.

I think our best path to finding that satisfaction and that acceptence we want so badly begins with an acceptance of self. Who we are is critical to fulfilling the purpose of our existance here. It's not a mistake that we're made with skills, passions and idioscyncrasies that distinguish us from the next person. We should relish in our uniqueness. Once we do that, it'll free us and enable us to reconcile who we are with what God is doing in and around us, and consequently, with how we fit into that. Once we accept ourselves we stop "doing" and start "being."

Eric calls that "discovering God as our portion." That doesn't have the same resonance that a health and wealth gospel would attach to that.

It was a great conversation.

Relax (Part 2)

...I'm still alive, just another looong hiatus. I know, I know. I've been horrible about keeping up this here blog.

I honestly don't feel guilty. Not because I don't want to let y'all in on the inner workings of my mind and life, but because I feel I've been doing better at concentrating on bigger and better things than my puny life. The other blog has sort of evolved into a whole other project that is doing a lot of cool stuff and has really helped me meet a ton of folks with great minds for justice and activism that way. Email me if wanna hear more about what's going on with that.

Explaining all that away makes me feel like I should make this really more of summer thang. Come to think of it who has time during the fall and winter to read blogs and catch up on other people's lives? Yet during the summer on the other hand, there's a lot going on and I'm anticipating having having a little more down time for this kind of thing than during the school year. What do you think?

Other than that, we bought and moved into our first home over a little over a month ago! Exciting! We got a townhouse in Shoreview, it's seriously like three minutes away from work and class which is great. We had to do a lot painting before the move, and we like our colors. I'll have to get pictures up on here for your viewing pleasure sometime soon.

Oh, oh, wait for it...I got to see Tyler Perry live on stage this last weekend. He was up in our neck of the woods touring his latest play, Madea Goes to Jail. To say it was great is an understatement. This guy is really onto to something and does a great job of reconciling faith and reality. Incidentally, he's premiering his sitcom House of Payne in ten select markets this week. Regina, New York's one of 'em, you should check it and let me know what you think.


I'm back, I'll be here all summer long to let you in on the intricacies of my mental musings when time and space allow. From my heart to yours, embrace the story that's unfolding in and around you.