When I was an undergrad at UC San Diego, I was also a full-time employee of the university. I had an extremely low stress, low responsibility swing-shift job, which gave me freedom to go to class during the day and a lot of time to get my reading and writing done at work. Faithful, young, fired-up evangelical that I was, I also used the quiet night-time hours at work for spiritual self-care. I did my Bible reading and prayer nightly, as well as books and books worth of journaling. I kept up this rhythm up long enough that every year, around my birthday, I’d go back to the previous years’ journal entries on that day. I remember these times of review as moments of red-faced embarrassment, because I would inevitably think, “Man, I can’t believe I wrote and thought and believed that stuff. I’ve come a long way since then. [...]

After having arrived in London nearly two months ago, it’s probably time for me to post an update here. Obviously, with a move to another country and a change in vocation, there’s a lot to write about – too much, in fact, so I won’t even try. But just so folks know that we are alive and well, here’s a quick run-down of life in London. It’s not a terribly exciting post, but that’s o.k. We landed at Heathrow on September 15, loaded down with a LOT of luggage. We checked in to a hotel for our first few nights, but then got to look at, and move in to our flat. We’re living in Southeast London, near an area called Canada Water. The neighborhood we’re in is incredibly diverse – I’m pretty sure we’re in the minority as native English speakers, which we actually enjoy. Just a couple of [...]

I sit in an apartment surrounded by boxes, along with other items that will soon be in boxes. It’s reality check time. In less than two weeks (which is six years and eight months after I arrived in the Seattle area) I will leave this city. Not forever, but for a long time. And even though I’m not necessarily leaving Seattle for good, it has left good in me. I could write in a number of different directions about the things I’ve loved and will miss about living here, but here are five: Seattle is globally aware. Many cities in the U.S. have a large mix of people groups living in them, but few are as consciously connected to issues and events around the world as Seattlites. I can have conversations about financial aid to Africa, food shortages, Burmese monks, or Bollywood stars with people at the produce market, park, [...]

Is it really July, and I’m just now getting around to my first post of 2011? Yes and yes. I, like many other formerly regular bloggers, have tried to kick start some motivation to become more frequent and consistent in posting, but it hasn’t seemed to happen. The last time I posted, it was to talk about some big changes – primarily, my marriage to Sarah. That took place a little over six months ago, and I’m very grateful. Meeting her was unexpected, as was everything that followed. It’s been a gift and a joy to be with her. And now our life together is taking another somewhat unexpected turn . . . Ever since I finished my work on a Doctor of Ministry degree through George Fox Seminary in the Spring of 2009, I’ve been kicking around the thought of doing PhD work. As a part of my big [...]

Sometimes things in life take you by surprise. All of us, at some point, encounter moments, weeks, or years of change so unexpected that life just cannot go on the way it had been. Often these seasons of life are painful but lead to new ways of being, feeling, and thinking. When we remain open to the process and tune in to how God may be working in the messiness of our lives, we sometimes discover that we have arrived a little bit farther down the road at a deeper place of gratitude, truthfulness, and new life. Anyone who has known me even casually over the past year or two knows that I’ve had my share of that kind of change. Some of it, I’ve chosen to talk/write about in a very public way – on this blog, as well as Facebook and Twitter. Much of it has been kept [...]

As I mentioned in my Birthday For a Cause post last week, I turned 40 recently. This, along with multiple other factors going on in my life right now, has me introspective. I do believe I’ve got a couple posts in me on this topic, hopefully relatively quick hit kinds of items. For starters, though, I’ve been thinking about the kinds of impact I’ve had on my world in my 40 years of living. In some ways, I can look back and be proud of some of the things I’ve been a part of. But I ran across a few names of people who died at the age of 39, and my resume is pretty slim by comparison. I am now older than the following men at the time of their deaths. Che Guevara – controversial figure, to be sure . . . but someone who had enormous impact during [...]

Those of you who follow me around on Facebook or Twitter probably know this already, but today is my birthday.  A milestone birthday, I suppose – I’m 40.  This has me reflective in some ways, and I may do some posting on what I’ve been thinking about.  But first, I wanted to do something I find important. Last fall, a pastor friend of mine here in Seattle, launched a non-profit organization with his family, called One Day’s Wages.  You may have heard of it through their Facebook group, or by seeing stories about them in the media.  It’s a pretty cool story about regular people committing themselves to doing something personally about helping end extreme global poverty. I love the concept – simple and elegant.  Every year, on your birthday, they encourage you to donate your earnings to a poverty-related cause.  Additionally, they’re just now rolling out a great new [...]

It’s been a busy few weeks for me since returning to the States from my trip abroad.  After flying in to San Diego and spending close to two weeks reconnecting with my body, the U.S. Pacific Standard Time zone, my family, and friends (in that order), I hopped in my car and spent a few days making my way back up the coast to Seattle.  I arrived over the weekend, and have spent the past few days reconnecting with the city I’ve come to love so much, the colder weather (even with relatively mild Winter temperatures, I find myself shivering from having spent most of the past few months in equatorial or summer climate zones), friends, and some of the best coffee the planet has to offer. It’s been a great couple of weeks worth of multiple homecomings, but I’ve only just begun making my rounds with friends here. In [...]

After some unforeseen circumstances, it turns out that my trip to Lagos, Nigeria, which would have been the last stop on my world tour, could not happen.  As a result, I made other arrangements, and have returned the U.S. a few days early than I had planned.  I am safe and sound in San Diego. I appreciate the interest you folks have shown in my big adventure.  I’ll continue to post things over the next few weeks that may make it sound as though I’m still away. Among these posts, I’ll do some summarizing of where I’ve been and what I’ve learned.  Stay tuned.

I started this blog – in it’s humble, stripped down, blogspot format – a few months shy of eight years ago.  At that time, the blogging pond was pretty small.  I jumped in because I was interested in engaging conversation that would end up developing into what some refer to as the emerging church.  Back then, I knew nobody in person who was wandering the crazy pathways I was, so I went to this new online community.  Frankly, there weren’t really that many people that were even blogging about issues of postmodernity, deconstruction, and approaching the gospel and the Church from a non/post-Christendom perspective.  So, the few blogs that were out there tended to link to each other quite a lot, so the blogrolls I’d see typically had the same core of names and pages on them. One of those names I used to see on blogrolls (and still do) [...]