And I'm COLD!!

Forecast for Cincinnati, OH

Jan 30 Flurries 15°F (Hi) -2°F (Low) 20% (Precip.)

He likes it better there.

I saw Jesus last night. He was at the Pub. He likes it there. People are real. They are more relaxed. You can talk about him there too – he doesn’t mind. Really. He actually kind of likes it. Jesus is funny that way, he likes to show up in unexpected places. Did you know he likes hot wings and beer (Kevin thinks he likes Guiness, but I think he brews his own – he has this thing for creating stuff)?

He didn’t mind that we didn’t pray before we ate or that we “rabbitt-trailed” off the “spiritual” conversation. You know what else is cool. While Jesus was hanging out at our table, he was also playing cards with a dad and his daughter, and watching a romance blossom at two other tables. Oh, and he was back home with a mom and her 3 month old daughter. He’s got a knack for being in more than one place at a time.

But, you know the thing that I noticed most about Jesus last night? He was so relaxed. He’s a pretty mellow guy. He didn’t seem in a hurry or too busy. He wasn’t worried about fixing anything or anybody. He was ok with ambiguity. He was just hanging out. I don’t know – maybe it was just the beer.

Lots of new pics

Long overdue:

Pics of Brownhouse folk

Pics of St. Elizabeth’s

AND

Pics of Izaac’s Very Cool New Room

Here’s a sample:

Check the rest of ‘em out here.

Jobs, Mission, Conversation

Got a job possibility – Executive Director for Smart Growth Coalition for Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. I’d love to work here. They are combatting sprawl. I would love to work for an organization that works for ecological and sociological health of a city/region. We’ll see what develops.

Thoughts on Mission over yonder.

We’ve had some great conversation here at the Brownhouse re: Kingdom of God. I’m too tired to go into it all right now. But we’ve had debates about Christ/Church and Culture and what are the non-negotionables. If there is no such thing as “pure Gospel” or even (maybe?) “pure Kingdom” how do we appropriate culture in the church? What things in a culture does the church address? I’m not awake enough to process this fully, but you get the idea (I hope).

How hiwarious is dis?

Swearch Google in Elmer Fudd-ese!!

Or Klingon!

Practicum post

check it out – http://kline.blogspot.com/Practicum/index.html

I need to set up comments on the Practicum blog and I’d like to figure out how to put something on either blog that says when the most recent post was on the other. Is that an XML thing? Thoughts anyone?

Practicum Blog working

It works – go here.

WIFI!!!!!!!

It is about to begin… The brownhouse wireless adventure! Bought the gear today and John is coming over tomorrow to set us up. It will be so sweet to be blogging remotely.

We got our Ohio liscenses and plates. The money stuff is figured out and we’ll set-up the bank accounts on Tuesday. Still looking for a job, it’s starting to get frustrating. I just want it all figured out.

Spontaneous Community Chaos

Last night was a blast. We (the humble brownhouse residents, minus the Rains) thought we’d have a quiet dinner and then watch a movie. Well, it turned into spontaneous community chaos. We had surprise guests that turned the evening into a wild time with 6 kids, 4 dogs, and 8 adults running around the house. It was a blast!

We did end up watching a movie – Witness. See pics here.

Much on my mind

I’m still on the job hunt… I’ve made some great connections and networks and we’ll see where all this leads. I’m hopeful. That’s something.

Need to get the Practicum blog up and running so I can put VC specific thoughts there. But I also need to get an Ohio driver’s liscence, plates, bank account, etc….. Got my library card yesterday though!!!! I am SO excited. I love libraries.

Interesting experiences with “community” yesterday. Not the reality of it, but the word/term/concept. In 2 different contexts yesterday I heard the term used to descirbe what the organization was trying to accomplish. One was a small group setting, the other was a large group setting. Neither, IMHO, had a real clue about what it really means to live in community. It was all about “connecting” with people, developing a comraderie, and mutual like-mindedness. Increasingly community has been less about these comfy ideals for me. Community involves depth, longevity, pain, hurt, process, “working-through-ness”. It is not something that can happen in a monthly meeting or chance encounter.

In that way I’m defining community pretty narrowly. There are broader aspects – ones that Joe Myers emphasizes in his book. I accept that. “Community” is sort of a prostituted word – spread out to cover a plethora of relational groupings and gatherings. We probably need better words – unfortunately, because I like the word “community”. “Common – Unity” I definitely think we need more of that.

By the way – some great church thinking going on over at Kevin’s.

I feel like what is going on underneath the surface of my life is a longing for belonging. I’m in such a place of flux right now… no job, not sure what our network of friends is going to be (though we’re getting early indications). I feel like the lense through which I am viewing life right now is – “where do I fit?”. Part of that is evidence of some of my inherent insecurity, but part (maybe most) is just that normal transition to a new locale and new people. I know we’ll get through it, but it will take time (and I’m not terribly patient).