Wonder what will happen...

Here are some facts:
1) I am in my office.
2) I need to read for Bible Study tonight, put together a worship service, and do some office work.
3) It is gorgeous outside.
4) There are swings right outside my window.

What do you think?

Mix CD

Alabama Smile -- Ward Williams
Your Misfortune -- Mike Doughty
He Went to Paris -- Jimmy Buffett
Big Front Porch -- Abi Tapia
Close Your Eyes -- Jump Little Children
Hide Me Away -- Anna Hutto
All This Time -- Rebecca Loebe
Gracie -- Ben Folds
The Long Way Around -- Dixie Chicks
Nothing to Hold Me Down -- Abi Tapia
Grace -- Rebecca Loebe
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da -- Beatles
DWC -- J
Long Slow Slide - Jewel
Not Ready to Make Nice -- Dixie Chicks
The Only Answer -- Mike Doughty
For a While -- Abi Tapia
Do You Remember -- Jack Johnson
Lay Me Down Lowly -- Rebecca Loebe
Cathedrals -- Jump Little Children

It's the third week of school

and already I'm up at 2:00am
trying desperately to finish a paper
so I can go to bed.
I hate exegesis.

This thing is due in 6 hours.

A litte laffy in my taffy

What did the little boy tell the game warden?

That his dad was in the kitchen poaching eggs!



What do you call a chicken crossing the road?

Poultry in motion.

A Vocational Vote of Confidence

I was walking through Brooks Commons at school,
stopping to talk to friends,
whining about hating homework.
I said
"I like being AT school,
I just doing like being IN school."
Marianne said
"And that's why you'll make the perfect campus minister."

What lovely affirmation.
If only...

My Fortune

"You thrive on the unexpected."

The Braves dugout. They lost, but it was amazing being that close. I love baseball. I mean it. I love it. 

Francoeur and A. Jones, my favorites, in the same picture... 

Jeff Francoeur batting again. So close. 

Andruw was on second. There was a conference on the mound and all the infielders came to talk to Andruw. They were just all hanging out. 

Seriously, I was close. And I was giddy about it. I love baseball. 

Dontrelle Willis hitting for the Marlins.  

This is a way more fun picture of Andruw hitting. (I took 73 pictures...) 

This one's for Dana. 

And there's Jeffrey.  

Andruw hitting. I was so close I almost couldn't stand it.

Adam LaRoche batting. He stands up quite straight... 

This is how close my seat was at the baseball game tonight. The guy on the left in the striped shirt is Don and next to him is his wife, and they gave me the tickets. They pretty much rock. 

Remembering

Five years ago, I was just starting my US-2 experience
training for the job.
On a break from the employment readiness program,
a co-worker told me about the planes that his buildings
and the theories that had begun to formulate.
I sat in my car and listened to NPR
until I had to go back inside.

I held a prayer vigil the next night
in the parking lot of the shelter
where I lived and worked.

That Sunday,
I went to the big steeple church downtown.
We sang patriotic hymns and
in the sermon the minister repeated the phrase
"America will prevail."
I did not feel better.

I felt detached in the next weeks.
I had no tv access, so I missed the onslaught of images.
I bought newspapers and magazines.
I listened to NPR.
I tried to understand, to get a sense of what was happening.

I was learning about the business of social work,
working with homeless parents,
playing with precious kids,
talking with volunteers.
The work I came to do
did not change because of the attack.

Almost two years later,
I hobbled around NYC on crutches,
my right knee recovering
from being crumbled when I crashed my car.
I stood with Kristin at the site
trying to glimpse the hole where the towers had been.
I sat in the church across the street
that had housed, fed, and cared for the rescue workers.
I shook my head at the tables
where people sold souveniers.
I took a picture with some firemen
and construction workers.
I didn't make eye contact
with the machine-gun toting police officers.


My life has changed in the last 5 years.
Then, I was just learning about homelessness
as an accidental missionary.
Now, I'm taking a non-profit leadership class
in seminary.
Then, I was the resident manager in a shelter/self-sufficiency program.
Now, I am a campus minister and theology student with 2 roommates.
Then, I had just moved to Tallahassee.
Now, I've been in Atlanta for over 2 years.
There are other differences.
I'm not ready to talk about all of them.
But some are wonderful, and some make me really sad.

Time passes.

Overwhelm

There are times
when you realize that your life
will not be what you thought.

Another Installment

Of the Most Fun Spammer Names:

Monarchs H. Reopened
Hushed T. Courtesy
Flood V. Sanitizes
fatness children
Operand R. Beachcomber
Aquaplanes K. Friskiness
Bishopric E. Pulse
Spacious V. Mosque
Leftism G. Compunction
Gigabytes B. Proprietorship