smashburger a smash?

New Eatery: SMASHBURGER (with worker: Andrew)

Kevin and I decided to try a new place for supper tonight, and Smashburger in Roseville won our vote. Here are a few videos of the graciously participatory worker who let us take his video not once, but TWICE! Andrew, you were a wonderful worker! Thanks for the delicious burger. Here's what I recommend:

-BYOB-build your own burger-- 1/3 lb, American cheese, grilled onions, tomato, yum.
-The smash fries--not a huge fan. The rosemary flavoring tasted like perfume. Stick with the regular.
-Chocolate Malt--you can't go wrong here, folks!

anyone out there?

So, I often wonder...does anyone actually read the Life at Luther blog? Am I the only one reading the blog posts of my fellow bloggers? (Hello to all of you, by the way!) It would be totally sad to think we are writing to non-readers. If you DO read, what do you like reading? What can we write more about? What is your favorite color? Help us out! We want to make sure we're at least somewhat interesting! :) Obviously, winter break has given me too much time to think about this. Just curious!

A note to any with a critical eye: no, this picture is not blurry, I am focusing on the snowflakes. :)

A day in the hospital

My wife had minor ear surgery today. Most importantly, she's done and all went well.

We arrived at the hospital at 7 this morning. We did the whole check in thing. Hurry up and wait. After a few minutes, they came and got her and took her back to get changed into her gown. After about 15 minutes, they came and got me and I was able to go in the room and wait with her.

No huge surprise, they were running behind, so we waited nearly an hour past the scheduled time for the surgery. Finally, they came and got her and I went back to the waiting room. I spent the first hour attemping to read a book for the upcoming J-Term, but I really wasn't accomplishing much in the way of retention. I'll admit that I've never felt that nervous before.

Finally, about 11am, they came and got me and took me to the consultation room. She was done with surgery and the doctor would "be in to see me" in a few minutes. I waited an hour in this tiny room all by myself. Needless to say my mind was reeling. Turns out the doctor just forgot to come talk to me in his rush to get onto the next surgery. Lovely. But finally they got him on the phone and he told me that everything went okay with the surgery.

Fast forward another half hour and they finally came to get me to take me into see her. That was a relief. I'm sitting here with her now, trying not to chuckle at the big bandage wrapped around her head.

I'm amazed at the relief of being back with her again. I've never felt so edgy and powerless before. This is certainly a first for me. But now that I know she's okay, the sense of humor is coming back again.

Many thanks to all the people that were texting me throughout the course of the morning. It was good to know that I wasn't alone today.

The thought did cross my mind today that if I was in CPE I could try to offer myself care...that made me chuckle.

White Christmas...Bah Humbug

Hello again from the frozen tundra that is the midwest.

I realize that Christmas was 3 days ago, but this is really the first oppurtunity that I've had to sit down and write anything. The past few days have had some high points and at the same time there have been some low points (LIKE TONS OF SNOW).

I'll back track to last Wednesday, the 23rd and the first high point. Everything was coming together nicely workwise for the little bit of stuff occurring on the 24th, and with bad weather pending, they were nice enough to give us the day off on Christmas Eve. Score 1!!!

So I went into my first 4 day weekend in a long time. Granted, I did have work stuff going on, and I did spend quite a bit of time fielding phone calls on the cell, but not having to go into the office was a plus. We spent most of the day down the street at the in laws house. As it turned out...the snow did start in, but it started pretty slow. Nothing too major.

We did get to go to Christmas Eve service, heading out to the church at about 3:30 in the afternoon. The snow was starting to get thicker at this point, but it was still drivable. The 4pm service (1 of 4 throughout the day) turned out to be the big one, with nearly 375 people attending. My son gets so excited about the candlelight portion of the service. So that's always fun to watch him. The low point of the service was the congregation giving the "O Holy Night" soloist a standing ovation. Granted, he's really good. I'm not disputing that, but its a worship service, not a concert. But I digress.

After church, we headed home. It was getting dark and for the first time the weather was starting to get pretty lousy. Blowing and drifting. I was glad that we didn't have to go far. After changing our clothes at home we heading back down the street for homemade pizza with the in-laws and then headed for home.

Christmas morning dawned with more snow than you can imagine. I don't have any pictures for reference, but let's just say that "Winter wonderland" doesn't come anywhere near describing what it looked like. The snow fell all day and it blew and blew and blew. There was no chance of getting out to go anywhere. I did dig a single path out to the road and went down to do the same at the in-laws. They walked up the street and that was the extent of our family gathering. But it was a good Christmas none the less.

The big hit, a Wii which sent my son into orbit. He's obsessed.

The weather kept in all the way through Friday and into Saturday, when it finally stopped. High drifts, snow plow drifts...all kinds of stuff across my driveway. I went out with my shovel and started digging...very slowly. After awhile, mom in law came walking down the street with their snow blower. Its small, not really made for a big Iowa winter storm, but it beat shoveling...kinda. So I went to work with that. We still needed the shovel though, to knock down and spread out the drifts so the snowblower could get through it. After fighting that for awhile my neighbor came walking over and said to grab his big snowblower. So I finished the driveway that way.

I want one. To bad all the stores are currently sold out.

We got more snow overnight Saturday night...but luckily it was light fluffy snow and only a couple inches. So I went out early and dug out again. Then I went down to do the in law's driveway for them as they are both currently laid up. Fun times.

Today the road crews are out cleaning up all the piles. Its a mess...but we're getting dug out. That's winter in Iowa...we always get dug out.

no more snow!

Wow...this has been one interesting Christmas. You know, the snow on the 23rd was great. The 24th was still pretty, but come the 25th, I was sooo over the beauty of it and really just wanting to go home and see my family. We never made it. I'm from Worthington, MN, and they got pummeled even more than we did here in St. Paul. I was relieved to hear my mom tell me to stay at school and not try the 3 hour trek, because it would've taken forever and likely would've been scary. Instead, we hung out at Kevin's parent's house for 48 hours, bugging them, eating lots of delicious meals, and playing cello. We're moving the official holiday back until next weekend! Despite the falling snow, church at Spirit of Christ in St. Louis Park was packed, we kept shoveling every 15 minutes to keep the sidewalks clear, and even got the luminaries out! Last year I was in Torrance, CA without a jacket, tights, and not a snowflake in sight. Those were the days!

My Pilgrimage: Candidacy Retreat

Welcome to my pilgrimage. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting weekly video posts from my pilgrimage from Minneapolis, to Texas, to Washington, DC to London, to Jerusalem/the Holy Land and back.

In this first video, I met up with fellow Luther Seminary students at the Southwest Synod Candidacy Retreat:

Candidacy Retreat 2009 from Tim Snyder on Vimeo.

Short video post from Luther Seminary students at the Southwest Texas Synod, ELCA Candidacy Retreat in Blanco, Texas.

where's the CHRISTmas symbol?

So...I went to Old Navy today...they had nearly everything marked down to $5. I was able to find a few gifts and stocking stuffers. I was on my way out the door when I stopped by a table of Christmas graphic tees. A white one caught my attention. The front of the shirt outlined a Christmas tree using symbols of the season. Only, they weren't the real symbols of the season. See the attached video...

Now, I'm not so naive as to think this is the first sign of unCHRISTmas, but this one really struck me. Praying for you and your family a super duper Christ filled holiday!

come and get it!

One of the highlights of finals week is that Karen Treat (Luther's Parish Nurse) has a massage therapist come into the Olson Campus Center and give FREE 5 minute massages for students, staff, and faculty. Craig (MDiv senior) and Keith (the massage tribal leader) were kind enough to let me get a video of the action. Keep your eye out for Keith during the spring semester, he does a fantastic job!

New Life Band

Sometimes I am amazed at the way that the family of Christ is connected, even from around the world.

Last night, my church hosted a singing group called the New Life Band. Check them out at www.newlifeband.net if you are interested. They are from Tanzania and perform ethnic music, both with and without instruments. Granted, I don't understand Swahili, and therefore did not understand most of the lyrics that they were singing. But I could tell when they said "Jesus" or "Christ." Some names are just universal. Perhaps that's why they say "the name above all other names."

This concert, which included audience participation was certainly a bright spot surrounded by a lot of stress from work. I won't go into that, but God certainly seemed to know that I needed a "diamond in the rough" last night.

Prayers please—Check!

I just wanted to thank you for your prayers. My mom's surgery went well this morning and she is resting as comfortably as possible in the hospital overnight. My dad (they've been married 40 years this month) has been by her side all day. Hopefully the rest of the treatment will go as well as this did. Luther Seminary is full of wonderful people (students, faculty and staff) who are willing to step up for people they've never met. I am blessed to have this community supporting my family and me as we support my mom. Thank you!

Covert Ops at Wal-Mart

Last night was a good night.

I got home from work in a pretty decent mood because the day's work had gone fairly smoothly. Also in the mix, the fact that we had decided to hit pizza buffet for supper after making a trip to Wal-mart.

Side note...I wish I had a lot of stock in Wal-mart...because my family alone has to raise the share value by at 2 or 3 points...but I digress.

So I got home and we all jumped in the van and headed off into the wild blue yonder. Though when I say it like that, it sounds like we just experienced the end of a Western.

Our first stop, or more so our first loop, was through the two car lots in the vacinity of Wal-mart. Our van is getting a touch on the old side and we are starting to think about upgrading to something a little newer, so we took a look. I thgought it was funny seeing the salesman standing at the window just waiting...I could read his thoughts all over his face. "It's cold out there, but if that van stops and they get out I am all over that." Sorry Mr. Salesman, not today.

From there we headed off to Wal-mart. We had a batch of stuff to pick up, but one needed to be done covertly. We are getting a Wii from my in-laws for Christmas. Basically a whole family gift. To go along with that, my parents wanted us to pick up a game for the kids that would be from them. I had one in mind that I was going to get. Had to go fairly basic as my daughter is only three at this point.

But how to pick it up with out the kids noticing. We had to be sneaky. So my wife took the kids towards the shoe section as they both need some new shoes and I was walking behind. Then I swung off into the electronic section, found the game, then hooked back up with them, managing to slip the game into the cart under our coats.

Step 1, successful.

As we made it to the checkout counter, the youngest said she needed to go to the bathroom. I thought this would play out well. My wife could take her to the bathroom, and typically that makes the oldest one say that he too needs to go to the bathroom and I could just check out. No problem right?

Wrong...he didn't go to the bathroom. But fortunately he got distracted at one point and turned his back, and I was able to slip the game across the scanner and into the bag without him noticing.

Step 2 succsful.

From there we headed off for pizza buffet, which is, in my opinion the greatest food creation of all time. Then we headed for home. After sitting around for a little while, the kids went off to bed.

My wife and I snuggled up under blankets on the couch, each with a book in hand. Novels, not text books mind you. As I sat there reading for enjoyment, snuggly and warm I realized. It sure is nice to be able to slack off...even for a little while.

Merry "Khisimisi"

The word "Christmas" is in Chichewa, the national vernacular in Malawi, translated "Khisimisi." I take it that it is just a vernacular mispronounciation by our ancestors of what they heard from their colonial masters. It turns out that there are hundreds of such "vernacularised" English words in my country. However, unfortunately for my people, most of them are swear words. I guess that says a lot about what sort of communication really took place between the colonisers and the natives.

But yes, we have Christmas celebrations in Malawi too. And the build up is just as crazy as anywhere else in the world. Especially in rural areas, where Christmas Day is that only day of the year when you get to have some form of meat at the table, except for those seasons when people get to eat chickens that have died of some diseases, the anticipation is way too much. All year's saving would be put to good use on Christmas Eve, just to make sure that they are ready for the 25th. In our culture, we don't share expensive presents. In fact, we rarely share presents at all. Instead, Christmas is the day when you wear your very best and then go out to communal meals. Yes, we dress up, and we share food! Everyone would make sure, if possible that is, to be seen around in some new clothes. Needless to say, in most cases, this was the only day when people got new clothes, usually just one pair of pants or a dress, most of those bought second-hand from bales of clothes from the West. With all the "new" clothes on, the village was now ready for the communal meals that would be inviting in all directions. After eating, games and dances would occupy the village until late. Is it amazing that we don't need a lot of things to be happy?

This will be the 9th Christmas that I have celebrated away from home. And yes, I miss the family and the village celebrations. But as I think of it, I realize things must be different now. My village now has more HIV/AIDS orphans than responsible people that could take care of them. In my immeadiate family, my father took in some of her sisters children when she died of AIDS in 1993. What started off as a family affair, with my dad helping his nephews, later became an orphanage with many kids. (My home area is one of the worst hit areas in the country). And Christmas became more and more stressful. How do we manage to get food and clothes for these many kids? Lucky enough, miracles have always occurred when we needed them most.

As we celebrate the season here, in this blessed abundance, lets us lift up in our prayers, and wherever possible, make donations to credible organizations for those children who will not get a present this year. The truth of the matter is that the majority of the world's population lives in poverty, and a majority of those, in abject poverty.

Prayers please

Okay, I don't use this blog for anything confrontational (I wait until I'm in person for that!) or theologically cutting-edge (there are people more qualified for that!). I usually just try to share my lighthearted view of life at Luther Seminary. But right now, I'm going abuse my position and make a prayer request.

Thus summer, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was aggressive and metastasized to her bones quickly. Recently we found out it had spread to her spinal column and brain. Because of the amazing way the human body was created, things put into the blood don't easily get to the brain. That includes chemotherapy. The easiest way to get chemo drugs to her brain is putting them directly into the brain.

So tomorrow morning at 7 a.m., my mom is going in for brain surgery. They are going to drill into her head and place a reservoir to hold the drugs under her skull and an accessible port to insert the drugs every other week. While the doctor is confident and has done this procedure many, many times, it's still scary for us (the family) and terrifying for my mom.

So please, tomorrow at 7 a.m. pray for my mom—Judy—and for the surgical staff working on her. I figure between here, Facebook and my mom's Caring Bridge site I've got a good number of people praying for my mom.

Thank you.

have you been skating?

If you have a child, a teenager, shoot anyone in your life who you enjoy hanging out with :), do me a favor, will you? Take them skating down at Rice Park. A video of my favorite little skaters...aren't they cute? If you want to go, here's the link: SKATE. Go do it!

It is finished

So what news shall I share today. I sit here and ponder on it as the sun breaks through the glass of the back windows of my office and threatens to blind me. This is a daily occurance that tells me its about 9 in the morning. It also tells me that it is winter.

Yuck.

But I digress.

The one plus about it being winter is that I can officially say that the fall semester is over. Praise the Lord. Each semester that I have embarked on thus far (and my current count is 5 including two on campus intensives) has been different.

There was my first semester last fall, trying to master Greek and remember how to do school again. Then there was my first intensive in January, dealing with being gone from home and family for two weeks and trying not to be worrying about work the entire time I was gone. Last spring was Pentatuech and Creation (systematics) which was a huge challange in terms of work load. Also we threw in the first session of contextual work that time around. June was intensive number 2, and I do have to admit that one was pretty easy as semesters go.

This time around was again different. Matthew (Synoptics) and Foundations of Pastoral care. The reading wasn't as heavy as its been before, but the work was still a challange. Needless to say, when I made my last responsive posting on Saturday, there was a celebratory dance going on.

And now, a break...it should be a month, but yet its not because I have at least one book to read before the second week of January. Hopefully its only the one.

In other news, Sunday night was my wife's staff Christmas party. In a way, it almost (emphasis on the almost) feels like we are both on staff as the church is also my contextual site.

It was a fun evening. Good food, good conversation. One thing that we do that's a little goofy is called Steal Bingo. That's how we tackle the white elephants. We play bingo for a few rounds until all the presents have been taken. Then we all open them. Then we play a few more rounds and the winners get to steal gifts from other people. Its a good time, but admittedly cheesy. My partner pastor loves it though. I think its the highlight of the year for him.

I did well at the beginning, winning two rounds. I ended up with a box of pens and a Crazy Cat Lady action figure (complete with separate cats and a quiz to indicate if you are, in fact, a crazy cat lady). I didn't fare so well towards the end though, and by the time it was all said and done, I had lost my two prizes...That's alright though. Even though I have a cat, I don't believe that I'm a crazy cat lady, or even a crazy cat codger.

At least not yet.

EBT class

Exercises in Biblical Theology (all MDiv peeps have to take this class) got a little funkier today. Take a look at this video and you'll see what I mean.

Welcome Finals

Ok, so we never really welcome finals, but we will certainly welcome winter break Friday at 4:00! Hang in there people! Finals week...oh dear. There is so much to do, and only 5 days left to get through it! I'm fighting the urge to work on other homework in class, and am trying to focus. Good luck to everyone else as you get one page, one paper, one test closer to the end! YOU CAN DO IT! Let the fresh blanket of snow remind you Christmas awaits! :)

Cross-cultural lessons from Invictus.

This past week brought back memories of last January when I wondered over and over again why it is necessary for me to be in Minnesota in winter. Snow is back, and it is cold out there. It is so cold that I dont want to get out of the house at all. If it were possible for me to study and write my papers at home, I would have my own winter hibernation, to get back to the Upper Campus in May. Unfortunately, I cant.

So to get myself ready for the week, knowing fully well that my week days are pretty monotonous, I decided to take a few friends to the cinema, (theater?) to see Invictus. It is a monster of a movie. Clint Eastwood did a brilliant job directing the film. Morgan Freeman is the best "Nelson Mandela" you will ever see in a movie. From accent to walk, Freeman is perfect. Matt Damon is one of my favorite actors. I got to like him so much because of the Bourne Trilogy, no wonder I wanted him to snick in some martial arts. But above all, Mandela's excellent leadership is what makes this film a must-see for all students of leadership, especially those interested in cross-cultural leadership. The story itself is one of the most powerful positive stories ever to come out of Africa in these years.

My favorite line (paraphrased): "The rainbow nation starts here ... Forgiveness starts here too." Multicultural leadership is more action and less words!

union of voices

If you're in the cities tomorrow and are looking for something to do around 2:30, come listen to the voices, drums, organ, violin, and shakers of the MSM project choirs. Here's a sampling from our dress rehearsal today! The FREE concert is taking place in the Chapel of the Incarnation at Olson Campus Center. See you there!

FREE fun!

I love sharing ideas of fun FREE (or very inexpensive) things to do around the twin cities. Here's the latest idea: Wells Fargo Skate in downtown St. Paul. Skate for $2 (or for FREE if you're a Wells Fargo member). This is my sister and her family giving the rink the most amazing figure skating performance it has ever seen!

Oh, and while you are down there, take a stroll through Rice Park and see the thousands of lights filling the park! Be sure to get down there before the end of the year! It's spectacular!

I met the president

Today I got to meet the president. No, not THAT president. Today I had the opportunity to meet President Bliese.

I know what you’re thinking, but when it comes to authority figures, I’m really old-school and meeting them is a big deal to me. I have a natural respect for the position and feel intimidated by the perceived authority. I become unnaturally quiet when professors are around and if you’ve met me, you know how unnatural that really is. So when you’re the president of the school, I now know I turn into a babbling idiot when we meet.

To his credit, President Bliese didn’t treat me like a babbling idiot. He was quite nice and showed interest in the decidedly non-theological and non-missional direction I took the conversation in. In one breath, with my hand outstretched, I gave him my name, the fact that I knew a family member, a passing comment on my addiction to TV and that I worked in the Communication’s Office. He smiled, nodded his head and shook my hand. We chatted, ate lunch, he talked a little work with a staff member who stopped by and then he quietly slipped from the table.

So, why am I mentioning this? Well one brief topic led us (and fellow blogger Tim who I was lucky enough to meet at the same meal—We had a really interesting conversation proving that I can string thoughts together) to the Life@Luther site and that we wrote for it. So maybe, just maybe, he might stop by to visit and I wanted to show him that the silly woman at the lunch table today can actually put coherent paragraphs together. Hi President Bliese!

A Love Story

Well everyone...I never thought I'd fall in love again. But alas it happened. You know its tricky how love works...you never really can imagine how it will play out. That I fell in love with an Internet Content Management System (CMS) was well a shock — my parents still aren't sure what to think.

Snow...yuck

Have you ever heard the expression "life got in the way?"

That's kinda how I've felt in terms of blogging over the course of the past week and a half. I have had high expectations of getting a posting done. I've had thoughts of subjects to talk about and then stuff just comes up to get in the way.

Well, today I'm taking some initiative and I'm getting something written.

As I sit here pondering on the many subjects that I could talk about from the past 8 days, my mind is drawn (as is my eye) to the very bright white stuff on the ground outside. I am, of course, talking about the most evil form of precipitation...snow.

Winter in Iowa...I swear Satan had a hand in it's creation, just don't tell any of my professors that I just said that, particularly Dr. Sponheim, he would not be pleased.

As with just about everyone in the midwest over the past few days, we got the blizzard. It started in Tuesday through the day with snow falling heavier and heavier as the day went on. The wind started in through the afternoon and things were getting heavy enough that the school dismissed early. I went and picked up my son from school and took him to my in-law's house. Mom in law also works for the school district so she was getting off at the same time and agreed to watch the little whipper snapper while my wife and I were still working.

Once work got done I headed for home and did the first batch of shoveling. I knew there would be more, but I wanted to at least make a dent.

The wind was howling pretty soon after that and we knew that school would again be canceled for Wednesday along with pretty much everything else in town. But I knew I'd still be going to work in the morning. Knowing that I'd be up early shoveling along with the really loud wind made for a lousy night's sleep, and at 5:30am I was out with the shovel. The wind was still going nuts and visibility was terrible, but by golly I had to be to work on time. Fortunately I work right in town and the wind kept the main roads passable. So I did make it okay.

As the day went on, conditions began to improve. The snow stopped and the wind calmed down and we even got to see the sun (and some pretty impressive sun dogs, too bad I didn't have a camera with me).

Now, a day later, people are still digging out. And I find it very amusing to see a dump truck in the parking lot across the street getting filled with snow to haul away.

I wonder where they dump snow.

Perhaps I will ponder on that for awhile.

snow day---or NOT!

Remember those days when you were in elementary school? The night of a blizzard when the school cancellations zipped across the bottom of the television screen during the news...remember how high you jumped off the couch when you saw "Worthington, district 518---CLOSED!" I almost threw my arm out of socket one year doing excessive fist pumps at the sight of this.


Well, my alarm went off this morning, and I had a certain mental expectation to see school cancelled due to the blizzard we were in. I ran to my computer...no e-mail. I went to the Luther website. No notice. I looked out the window to see a 2 foot drift of snow around my car and said outloud, "You've got to be kidding me!!!" Did anyone else feel this way as you commuted or walked to school? How about a snow day people!? :) Eventhough it was nasty outside, the happenings on campus were sweet! Lots of fun! Our contemporary/alternative worship class was in charge of chapel. We sang a U2 song (got to play with fellow blogger Tim--he rocked out the trombone), did a few experiential things, distributed communion to eachother, and experienced some silence and space in worship. After that, a HUGE art piece was being worked on in the lobby. Watch the video for evidence of that. A community meal followed with chili, and pumpkin bars! YUM! I worked in seminary relations all afternoon, and now I'm staying put in my room for the night. I don't feel like busting down the drift in front of my car, although, now with my new Subaru, I can probably bust drifts in ways my old VW bettle never could! Hm...maybe I WILL go outside! :) Safe travels, snuggling, movie watching, and hot cocoa drinking to you all!

Meet Dan, Maria & Lyla Harrington!

Dispatches from Texas...
 MY TRANS-LOCAL COMMUNITY/FAMILY

[insert pics here]

Years ago now, I was leading an alternative worship on the campus of Texas Lutheran University called Intermission. I got an email from a Methodist Youth Director in town and he wanted to hear about it so we had coffee. That's how I met Dan Harrington. Dan and I soon began to collaborate and a close friendship formed. I met his wife, Maria, shortly after that and together they were even better. Then we both did our Rites of Passage together and I worked for him as his summer Youth Ministry Intern. After that he was like a brother to me.

Early on when we were creating a "council of elders" at The Netzer Co-Op, and we knew we wanted a young couple on board, I could think of no two better than Dan & Maria. Dan soon left the church he was working at and became a candidate for ministry in the United Methodist Church and began studies at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Now on top of everything else we could nerd out over systematic theology. Poor Maria.

So, when I left Texas it was really hard to leave friends who had become family to me. Maria and Dan were expecting their first child and Maria told me I wasn't allowed to leave until after the baby was born. Well that was true, but little Lyla Grace was born the day I left. I got a text with the news from a friend literally as the last box was being loaded onto the Uhaul (I was five hours behind schedule!).

That's often the most challenging dynamic of Seminary — leaving behind friends and family. But, we've gotten to stay in touch a bit with Skype (a free internet video phone application). It was just like being in their living room. I spent two and a half hours last night with the Harringtons via phone/then Skype. Maria and I got to catch up on life and her work (she works for my friend, Paul Soupiset!) and struggles and joys. Dan and I got to talk church. I got to smile I Lyla and soak in her beauty. I even got to "be" there for bathtime.

SIDE NOTE: Someone should start working on how we will cope with the psychological impact of having our baby pics broadcast over social media. It is bad enough when mom and dad post baby pics. But what about video streams live in real time?!?!

But this isn't just a post about my wonderful friends. Its about relationships and friendships and how it is that we build community in an extraordinarily connected world. This could change things ya know...

THE SWELL SEASON!!!

This past Saturday was the big night. I had been waiting for this night for a long time. This was the night of The Swell Season concert. They're new record came out this fall and when I found out they would be in the Twin Cities, I immediately began plotting the goodness. You may know The Swell Season — Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova (often times performing alongside addition members of The Frames) — from the movie Once. Several weeks a few of my friends and I watched the movie...I was introducing them to it for the first time while I myself could watch it over and over again which is saying something because I rarely watch a movie twice.

Two of my favorite people here at the Seminary joined me — Bjørnar & Mirjam Tho. Bjørnar is an exchange student from Norway and its been a blast getting to know them. We've shared many meals, late night convos, and fun times together. So we all headed downtown to meet a couple friends of mine at The Local, an Irish Pub. Glen Hansard and the Frames are all Irish so it seemed good to be in the vibe. We got some appetizers and a few pints and soaked it all in before heading to the State Theatre.

The concert itself was an outright spiritual experience. I've done big rock shows, smaller shows, local shows, intimate shows and countless performances in similar venues, but this was something total different. It felt like they were singing in our living rooms and yet we were in the 2000 seat State Theatre. Glen twice sang standing in front of the mic on the edge of the stage bellowing out heart wrenching lyrics. The instrumentation was amazing when the Frames joined in: acoustic, electric, violin, piano, drums and bass. Every song was just as beautiful and lush as the one before. It was amazing.

If you ever get the chance to see them live...do it. It'll forever change the way you think about experiencing music live. In fact you may even begin to wonder if what you experienced wasn't worship.

CCC

Has it sunk in yet that Christmas is 18 days away? It seems as though each year it creeps up sooner than the last. My friend, Scott Egbers preached (might I add, amazingly) this morning and talked about the reality and suckiness of the last few weeks of the semester. He spoke some awesome words of hope into our situation. I would have felt pretty overwhelmed about it all this morning if not for a trip to St. Peter this weekend for Christmas in Christ Chapel. A holiday concert put on each year by the college. There were well over 1,200 people there for the afternoon show. Probably a few hundred more that night. Christ Chapel is a pretty place, and very near and dear as Kevin and I will be getting married there in August. If only we could get them to hang the lights from the ceiling for our wedding like they did for the show. Maybe we can even get a choir like this to sing our prelude! :) The point of all this is to say: if you aren't feeling the Christmas spirit yet, go take in a holiday concert. It'll help. I promise.

Robert's Harambee

On the 24th of July this year, while the seminary community was getting the news of the birth of Tameika, my daughter who was born at 2pm on that day, Robert Obaga, a 20 year old son to William and Margaret Obaga, both of whom are PhD students from Kenya, had an emergency on a soccer field. He spent a couple of days in the hospital. After a major medical treatment, he regained himself and was released to go home.

What followed that miracle of Robert's restoration would demand that another miracle be performed for the Obagas; the medical bills were just unbelievably astronomical.

Needless to mention, there was absolutely no way they could ever be able to pay everything by themselves. God had to show up for them. The community had to come in. The extended East African community in the Twin Cities, the Swahili Congregation, both congregations where the Obagas attend, the Seminary and many other organizations and individuals were moved by God to help. Part of the bills was taken care of by the county and another part by the hospital itself, but the climax of the supporting drive took place yesterday at Saint Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis where we had a wonderfully patronized harambee organized to raise further funds for the medical bills. It was a celebration of three things in one event: Roberts healing, good music, and the love of a great community. One of the acts that created a huge buzz was that of seminary students singing African songs in "perfect" Swahili. What a loving community we have here. As an International Student, and on behalf of all International Students at the seminary, I wish to say that knowing we live in a caring community like this makes a huge difference. Beyond any shadow of doubt, you have performed a miracle for us. And for that, a million thanks.

Advent Sketching

Each day in Advent, my friend Paul Soupiset sketches in his journal. Its his way to be present to this Advent restlessness of this season:

Yesterday after class, a meeting on campus worship and a performance with Luther Brass, I headed to downtown Minneapolis to catch some hang time with my good friend and mentor, Paul Soupiset. He was in town for a business meeting and so we spent the late afternoon catching up. Paul greeted me with a big smile saying, "gee for two people who live thousands of miles away, we sure do see each other a lot." It's funny but true. We've hung out about once a month since I left Texas which is about how often we got serious hang time in the midst of our crazy schedules in Texas. You may remember Paul and I work together on GENERATE Magazine (see this post) so we had to touch base about that. But we also caught up on life, work, funny things, etc. On the way to the airport we talked through some discernment I'm working through and even talked through Jürgen Moltmann's social doctrine of the eschatological Trinity — ya know...like you do.

So if you're looking for an Advent discipline to help you be more present to this season. Grab a cup of coffee in the AM or tea for the PM and visit Paul at www.soupablog.com and gaze through these beauties. What catches your attention? What images stick with you? What is it about these images that words might not convey?

More Links from Paul:
2007 Lenten Sketches Blog
Liturgical Sketching
Books that feature his art

hats

Do you have a favorite hat? I mean a REAL hat. Not just the many hats we wear from day to day: sister, artist, pastor, Auntie, fiance, student, student seeking approval, you get my point! Should we declare a National Hat Wearing Day? Does one already exist? Bust out your favorite hat and keep your ears warm...with the falling flakes, you might actually need one! My sister took this photo of me in the "hat shop" at Disneyland last year on my birthday. Definitely one of the largest I've ever had on my head! Hats are great!

My Own Secretary...and Long Term Plans

Does making phone calls count towards contextual work? I think it does and I just felt a bit like my own secretary. I made a call canceling my monthly preaching activities at a small country church as the sermon prep would be happening during final's week (which is somehow next week already). Then I made a call to set up a visitation with a couple for Friday afternoon. If you may recall, this is the same couple that I visited with my partner pastor about a month ago...the brown stuff on the road incident...an update on that...it was residue from a soybean processing plant...eww.

So that's been the past 15 minutes for me...but that's okay.

In other news, I think I have officially been tapped for doing a dramatic portrayal when Lent rolls around. I don't think I've mentioned it here, but my final project for Synoptics was memorizing/reciting the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7 (those are chapters, not verses mind you). Last night I did the reciting portion for my partner pastor. He was pretty impressed and mentioned..."I might put that on the back burner for Lent."

Of course, he may have only been joking...but then again...maybe not.

rabbit rabbit

My dear friend, Hannah Johnson always says, "RABBIT RABBIT" on the first day of the month. Today is the last "RABBIT RABBIT" of the year. It's crazy to think how fast the semester has gone. Last night I hit the SUBMIT button on my RLP (Rostered Leader Profile), and off it went into cyber-space! Praying the Holy Spirit will guide those forms into the right hands and all seniors will have some amazing first call opportunities! Good luck to all my fellow students as we charge through the chaos of the next 3 weeks with Christmas break on the other side of it all!! YIPPEE!