Thirsty

Don't really have much to post, well I suppose I do, lots of cool stuff is happening lately. Lots of youth ministry ranging from kindergarten through 9th grade boys... good stuff at work... weather is inducing more running... lots of opportunities for me to further nourish relationships with friends and family. But what I'm interested in posting is a bit of information about the current Pope. I've recently realized how much the Pope speaks to the world. He has something to say to everyone. I have no doubt that he could have an intense conversation with you, and draw out and illuminate the image of God that you were born with. He has been in the U.S. this week, and I'm most amazed at the depth of content that he prepared and reflected on during each of his various visits. Below are his speeches verbatim, from just this trip: Press Conference Aboard Papal Flight - "I Go to the United States With Joy" Pontiff's Address at White House - "Faith Shed...

Noah and Maria are married! I'm very happy for them. I grew up with Noah and went to school with him through 8th grade, but then different high schools, and different cities for college and beyond, but we have both made the effort to stay connected. Below is the toast that I wrote and then read at the reception. I figured it appropriate to let everyone not there too, a little bit about them. When I think of Noah, here are a few things that I think of: I think of being treated like one of the family whenever I came over to play. Getting into trouble together. Growing up together. Learning together. Ok, you want specifics. Did you know that when you press steel wool onto a 9-volt battery, it burst into flames? Noah and I discovered that together, nearly burning down the Koontz shed in the process. Did you know that in the Koontz household, computer time was dished out to the kids - far more than the TV, and years before the computer was the common tool it is today? Noah and...

One of the precursors to Spring is the excited anticipation of runners who begin making ambitious plans for the warm weather, before it has even returned. I am one of the guilty many. Though it certainly seems that I have more runners around me than I did last year. More of my friends are interested in running, more are taking the step from "not running", to "jogging", to "running", than before. I have also become aware of my decline in fitness since leaving Chicago. The Davids (Salmon & Zimmel) told me about the Grand Island Trail Marathon awhile back, and I've since scrounged up a solid commitment from a few other guys to register to run it! There is also growing interest from a few more folks to join us in driving up there and do the 10 kilometer run that accompanies it. I think so far we've got 7 or 8 people signed up total. To quote the website, "The marathon filled by early May last year and the 10Km filled by late June,...

Not sure how often I will do this, but I'd like to try something called " fisking ," though what I actually produce will usually be a poor example of it. I would rather get my thoughts out, in a broken form, than miss getting them out there while I wait for the opportunity to more clearly articulate them. My first one is based on an article that I encountered in my Del.icio.us network (that links to my own bookmarks, but I'm referring to a bookmark somebody else in my network posted.) The article is: How to Respond to Conservatives , and my response to it is: The first half of this document is basic conversation/debate tactics. It makes the claim that conservatives are emotional and unreasonable, even though you could easily swap in a person with any ideology for that. They are attacks on the person, not the topic. They highlight the flow of the conversation over the content. The problem is he slides in content: i.e., diverting a pro-lifer by saying "by...

Interesting thing I'm discovering about myself: I grew up thinking it was a selfish thing to say, "I want to be a saint." That probably sounds absurd. All Christians aspire to sainthood, and even non-Christians know that it's something important to us. I grew up thinking it would be an amazing gift from God to be a saint, but would honestly feel ashamed ever expressing a desire to be a saint. Pretty crazy! I realize now that what I saw in sainthood was miracles and eternal life and joy and comfort and good food and being "better than everyone else." What I see now is a life of poverty, humility, and humiliations. An ardent desire for God's unity and peace and justice, so ardent that you would daily lay down your life for it. As this understanding grows, I'm beginning to realize how good it is even to desire sainthood. To be Christ here today. Who wants to be a saint?

This week I have been in a neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana, called Allendale. A few years ago a few young men in the People of Praise did some research and praying for where God would like for them to spend their energy and help usher in his kingdom. They settled on Allendale, one of the poorest places in the country, and there has been an ever-increasing presence here, being and bringing Jesus Christ to a struggling people. Just a few pages with snippets of the Allendale work are here , here , here . As an inadequate summary of the week, I'm just going to briefly describe the pattern of life, and what I did each day beyond the pattern. All of the local full-time employees of One:Ten , except me, are members of the new Work College in South Bend. It's a collection of undergrads, recent grads, an older single, and a largish family, that share a large part of their life together, meeting together for most dinners, praying together, learning together, playing together,...

I had the chance to attend Muncie's Festival of Lessons and Carols along with Pete Gaffney. My mom, Beth, was one of the readers. Below is what she read and shared. I stole it, with her permission. From Isaiah Chapter 9 : "The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulders dominion rests. They name him wonder-counselor, mighty god, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." The words of Isaiah are powerful. When we read them, we feel his confidence and knowledge of God. Those words sound so direct. How can one not see that this promised messiah is fleshed out in the life of Jesus? Why cannot the whole world see it? Why cannot the Jews see it? Many of you here know that I grew up Jewish, in an observant Jewish home. To understand the Jewish viewpoint, you must remember that the Jews were expecting the Messiah to be a powerful, good king. They were expecting a person of God's choice to ri...

I've been taking more pictures lately. Jennifer instigated it when she suggested that One:Ten should start it's own 365 on Flickr as a way of sharing more of our life with those outside the office. So we now have a One:Ten pool on Flickr which anyone can subscribe to if they don't already subscribe to those of the individual members. I'm sure there will be vast dry spells, but anyone can help us by giving us ideas for what they'd like to see. The photography continued into a road trip I took last weekend with a few from the local young adults group. We went to visit Dan who is an actor and was playing in A Christmal Carol with a few different parts. We managed to take quite a few pictures there. It was a huge blessing to get some much time with everyone who came.. so much time provides cement for relationships. Earlier this week I drove down to Indy with a couple friends, Dan from my men's group and Michael. Wanting to fully experience it as much as ...

14 months ago, Uncle Mike was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and given 4 months to live. He made it till a week ago today, and in keeping with his lifelong passion for people, his final year saw countless people through his doors. I got to be with him 3 weeks ago! These last few days have been an incredible celebration of his life, and thankfully there is already a wealth of online information that I don't have to duplicate. My brother took a lot of pictures . Jim Schenkel summarized (see the addendum) his experience of one of the wakes, the funeral, and the burial. The Buffalo News has an obituary . I'm waiting/looking for a copy of the 1-2 minute spot that was carried on the news that evening. It was truly a powerful tribute, to a passionate, faithful man. Still thinking about you, Mike! Maybe I'll have a bike someday too. :) (PS: I found a clip of the television news coverage! It's a short spot that will give you a glimpse of how expansive the ...

God, creation, sin, redemption, creation. Mental note.. read more of the bible daily!

I grew up in the Muncie branch of the People of Praise . A fixture in that branch and my life has always been the Schenkels. Rosanne was the office secretary at St. Mary Elementary through my years there, and Jim has just always been around poking me in the ribs and never giving me a chance to see his face without a smile on it. While I don't see much of them these days, each time I do it's richer and richer, as I'm coming to appreciate what they've chosen for their lives more and more. I work with Jeremy , and when Jim was in visiting for a recent leaders conference, and he discovered that Jeremy had written the first website for the People of Praise, he instantly went down on one knee and made the sign of the cross to Jeremy. :) I felt honored to be witness to that honoring. :) I just got a blog comment from Jim telling me that he had linked to me and wanted to pass a meme along to me. As a viral form of blogging, I don't participate in them that muc...

However vast the divine milieu may be, it is in reality a centre . It therefore has the properties of a centre, and above all the absolute and final power to unite (and consequently to complete) all beings within its breast. In the divine milieu all the elements of the universe touch each other by that which is most inward and ultimate in them. There they concentrate, little by little, all that is purest and most attractive in them without loss and without danger of subsequent corruption. There they shed, in their meeting, the mutual externality and the incoherences which form the basic pain of human relationships. Let those seek refuge there who are saddened by the separations, the meannesses and the wastefulnesses of the world. In the external spheres of the world, man is always torn by the separations which set distance between bodies, which set the impossibility of mutual understanding between souls, which set death between lives. Moreover at every minute he must lament t...

"Only you -- human soul -- were made to be the image of nature that surpasses every intellect, likeness of incorruptible beauty, mark of true divinity, vessel of blessed life, image of the true light, that when you look upon it you become that which he his, because through the reflected ray coming from your purity you imitate he who shines within you. Nothing that exists can measure up to your greatness." - Gregory of Nyssa

Little update from Angola, IN , my family's lake cabin. They were all here this past week, and I opted to work this week and work Thurs & Fri here so that I could at least be with everyone for a portion of the week. There is a cable internet connection coming into an upstairs bedroom that overlooks the main room, front room, and lake, so this is a mighty distracting place to be working from. Actually fortunately Thurs & Fri were both kinda dreary so it seems that was more of a blessing for me than everyone else. Nonetheless, I'm returning to South Bend in an hour with my fair share of sunburn, and sore muscles. My shoulders and arms are dead from skiing and jet-skiing. With the jet-ski, I have perfected a technique of drenching people in water - be they in a boat, canoe, or kayak - without exactly blasting their heads off or running over them. With skiing, it's been great to discover that I am finally able to slalom - ski with only 1 ski. I got up on my firs...

I just had the 100,000 mile full checkup on my vehicle. Here's the lineup... Differential Pinion Seal Spark Plugs Ignition Wires Air Filter Cooling System Power Chemical Flush Auto Transmission Power Chemical Flush Front Disc Brake Rotors Rear Disc Brake Rotors Left Rear Axle Seal More that needs done in the next 6 months.. Rear Main Seal Fuel Filter Brake Fluid Flush Power Steering Flush Not that any of you cared, this is partly just a reminder that this is my blog where I record important things. :-P Good day!

I suffer from a form of techno-lust. Thankfully it's end-result has not been purchases; my preference for fewer personal belongings still wins out in general. But I still frequently daydream about technology and it's various uses. Sometimes for the sake of drawing people together online, sometimes for the sake of organizing my life, sometimes for relaxation via music or movies, sometimes for education. Those are all good things, but it qualifies as lust because I indecisively think about it more often than I act on it. When I'm not posting on here, I might be too busy with life. But I might just be too busy daydreaming about what to write.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. &mdash 1Cor13 Nothing original in this post, just some truths. Three things to remember as light-bearers, from Nick : Be abhorred by sin. Weep with and for people who are suffering. Be ever in awe of God. Therefore, as has often been said, missionary commitment remains the first service that the Church owes to humanity today to guide and evangelize the cultural, social and ethical transformations; to offer Christ's salvation to the people of our time in so many parts of the world who are humiliated and oppressed by endemic poverty, violence and the systematic denial of human rights. &mdash JPII

"Only when charitable activity takes the form of Christ-like self-giving does it become a gesture truly worthy of the human person created in God’s image and likeness." - Benedict XVI Bring it!

One of the reasons I don't post very much is because there is both so much going on, so much waiting to go on, and so much that has gone on, that I don't know where to start, or if I even really have time to start. In some sense, it's somewhere between me being too lazy to post, and me bumping this down on my list of priorities. Meh. Sorry for that random rationalizing. Meticulously ridiculous. :) I ingeniously came up with that two-word pairing on Friday evening with some of the branch young adults as we sat outside relishing the temperature, after a relaxing meal and some prayer & praise. I think I was pretty quiet that evening.. usually when I'm quiet, it's through some lack of effort on my part, which is inadequate. But sometimes it's because I'm just comfortable, and content to share time and space with friends, and giving the conversational portion of my brain a much-needed break. This last year has been an assortment of changes, which look...

This morning was my second Saturday with the kindergarten and first grade boys soccer group for the South Bend branch of the People of Praise. I spent an hour and a half with them, playing a soccer game occasionally even with just one soccer ball, and playing assorted other exercises and games. These boys are great.. I'm still very much learning how one must lead a group this age. They each insist on individual attention, but if I give it to one boy, the rest turns to chaos. Some are on the verge of tears at one point, and at the height of elation at other points. They are all eager to love me and spend time with me whenever they see me. Youth are so transparent, we have so much to learn from them! It's also a testament to the tireless work their parents put in to forming them. At the very least, our community is a collection of passionate parents. More likely, we stand out for our interest in sharing this experience with not only our own flesh and blood. Immediately a...