Summer Reading

Aside from the Bible and My Utmost (daily necessities). Here is a list of books I am meandering through this summer. I hope to read at least 2/3 of them.

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Johnathan Safron
• I Once Was Lost - D. Everts and D. Scahupp
• Surprised by Hope - N.T. Wright
• A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
• The Irresistible Revolution - Shane Claiborne
• Searching for a Better God - Wade Bradshaw
• 20,000 Leauges Under the Sea - Jules Verne
• Sailing Alone Around the Room - Billy Collins
• East of Eden - John Steinbeck
• The Call - Os Guiness

I think thats multiples thousands of pages, so that should do just fine.

Any comments or suggestions?

Transition and Renaming

Has it been almost a month? Wow. It’s crazy the things that slip away when life goes into overdrive.

Mass transition is really the only way to describe the past few weeks of my life. Transition. Out of an experience, out of a home, out of routine, and into the next life step. Which, at the moment, includes an amazing new apartment, great roommates, and an unstable job situation. But I guess two outta three aint bad.

As I look to move into the next phase of my life, I think I really want to make consistent posts something of a priority. This blog has been a really positive experience providing both a place to work out thoughts and share experiences. Not to mention hearing some great feedback along the way.

The new title is appropriate,  While I’m no longer a Fellow, the story is still real, and unfolding in fresher and more exciting ways every day.

Exicting things that are on the way, or happening as we speak…

• New apartment in a sweet part of town.
• 10 day adventure across the pond in London.  Leaving on Friday.
• Good summer things (Longer days, Fridays After Five, Cookouts, Outdoor drinks, Beach…)
• Great friends getting married
• Vacation in Portland

Summer always bring great things, and the advent of free time again, brings lots of quality unplanned time, especially in the evening.  Which seems like such a novelty to me in this first post-Fellow month.

Look for me more.  I promise to be around more often. 

Resolution Update

A while back I wrote about a new strategy for making yearly goals and shared with you some of my hopes for things accomplished in ‘08

Just thought I would give you all a quick update on where I am with some of that stuff. It’s been about 3 or so months since then, seems like a good time to check in.

Here are a couple of highlights…

- Maintain core relationships: So far so good. Gladdeus/Cornerstone Reunion in February. Great rendezvous with Mark in Knoxville, Signed a lease with John and Isaiah for next year, Countless phone conversations with folks all over, Big fun weekend in DC for Ben’s B’day. And the Fellows… can’t get enough.

- Go skiing 5 times: Sadly this failed. It seems as long as I am living on the east coast I will be at the mercy of pitiful VA ski offerings and incredibly overpriced lift tickets. No thanks to global warming either. I guess 5 times was a bit of wishful thinking…

- Attend a professional sports event: Saw the Red Sox play Detriot Tigers their second series of the year on a road trip to Boston with Mike to visit MIT. Even though the game was a little dull (save for Manny crushing a homer in the 7th) Fenway was beautiful and absolutely worth the visit. Before the game, Mike and I sat in one of the bars right outside the park and drank large expensive beers. Standard. It’s definitely not everyday that you can cross something off your resolution list and “things to do before I die” list in the same event, but evening game at Fenway certainly meets both requirements.

- Leave America at some point: Plans set to spend a week in London in June doing missions work with folks from Trinity and the International Presbyterian Church. I love London and I love missions. Could it be more perfect?

- Listen more. Talk less: There are good days and bad days with this one, but I must admit that for a verbal processor like myself to shut up and listen once in awhile has done wonders for deepening my important relationships and solidifying new ones.

Well there’s a quick glimpse. The year is rolling on and there are more things to learn, do, and experience.

Thanks for hanging in there with me so far. Good things ahead!

Breaking Bread

Today I am thankful for Panera Bread Company.

Not just for their marginal success at bringing redemption to the chain restaurant industry. Or for Cinnamon Crunch bagels. Or even their careful attention to aesthetic layout (fireplaces, really?) All of these things are wonderful, but what I am perhaps most grateful for is the opportunity for relationship that Panera has provided me with over the past few months.

Certain places become tend to become fixtures in our lives; whether that be for reasons of function (Bank of America) or sentiment (JMU) we develop affinities for locations as we move through our lives. I realized yesterday that Panera has now been subconsciously added to my list. Although the advent of the Pick Two option is a truly revolutionary development in the fast food industry, there is so much more to value than simply a menu option. This place provides great space for relationships to flourish.

And they certainly do.

Four accounts demonstrate how this has been true in my life in the past months…

1. Knoxville, TN Mid-January. Networking at its finest–and perhaps most humane. I was on a trip with my friend Kate to provide car ride company while she interviewed for the Knoxville Fellows Program, and also for a long overdue visit to a college roommate, Mark. Saturday morning Kate interviewed and I had breakfast with Gavin. A great friend of Mark’s and a member of the ever ubiquitous Summer’s Best Two Weeks network. We talked about everything from Blackberry pros and cons to God’s vision for the city. Great conversation. Great contact. Great new friend.

2. Knoxville, TN Mid-January. Long overdue catchup. Same weekend. Same Panera. The next morning I met up with Mark for breakfast and it was so great to catch up with him. It’s crazy how when you live with someone for for 3 years you just sort of get used to the mundane details of their lives. When space is no longer shared the gap of missing information is huge. So catching up took up tons of our time. But it was so great to talk to him about life, and work, and future plans. God truly has blessed our friendship and I am so fortunate to have such a faithful brother.

3. Charlottesville, VA Early-March. Networking 101 . Grabbed lunch (Sierra Turkey sandwich.. what else?) with Brian Bell, who is the director of the fellows program and the director for the Leadership Development Center for UVA. As I am currently knocking on the doors of student affairs offices around the university, he was a great resource for tips and tricks of the networking trade, and happy to help provide me with some people to take the next steps with. Great help from a great guy.

4. Centreville, VA April 6th. Weekend Travel Stop. On the way back from a great weekend with the Fellows after a gathering of Fellows Programs from around the country we cruised in for a lunch stop before the last leg of our commute. The restaurant was packed with post-church lunch crowds , but we were able to move through the line pretty quickly. As we laughed and talked together in respective booths, I was again reminded of the sweetness of community. Funny how meals, even ones in crowded restaurants, can bring so much love and peace. I’m really going to miss this group when it’s all said and done.

Thanks Panera. Keep up the good work. You’ve offically become one of the few chain restaurants that I no longer intentionally avoid.

Happy Birthday Jimmy

All this week is the Centennial celebration of the wonderful institution of James Madison University. 100 years ago, JMU was brought into existence, and I, for one, am extremely grateful.

I can’t imagine what my life would be like had I not spent four years as an undergrad there. I certainly grew up in many ways that I never saw coming. I learned about great friends and deep community. The beauty of giving back to people, and the danger of spreading to thin. Though I might not need my BA in English anytime in the near future, I’m always amazed at how intricately our investments and involvements during college lead us to both vocations and locations that we’re nowhere near our peripheral vision.

However, it is on amazing days like today that I long to be back at JMU, if only for an afternoon. I miss Quad days, and hammock porches. Sunsets from ISAT, and grilled cheese in Dhall. Wednesdays at 5 in Taylor Hall and the 120% chance that you’ll see a friend as you walk from Harrison to the Commons. I even kinda miss the Duke Dog, despite his weird eyebrows and sometimes intrusive behavior.

How incredible it is that an educational institution can bring such joy to both its current population, and alumni all over the world. I think I’ll still get excited about seeing a JMU bumper sticker around town even when I’m 70.

Madison Pride. Forever. GO DUKES!