ah it's great to be home. went to church this Sunday morning and though i hold no illusions that i have the same connection with people after being away for a year it was great. i do think i understand why folks leave home so often though. how exactly do you become an adult in a church where you walked around in your diapers?

news flash update taken from the paper:

"the sheep is still on the lamb"

only in a small town newspaper

life in rural PA is excellent. stories in the newspaper today:

a sheep that has been wandering through a local city
(animal control asked local citizens to alert them or just pick up the sheep if they knew who it belonged to. but wait isn't animal control supposed to be taking care of things like this?)

a polka band leader that was charged with fraud
(no explaination on how a polka leader could defraud anyone but hey folks are intelligent around here.)

a man who tried to rob a grocery story twice.
(it seems the first time he got just $11 by wielding a knife. problem was when he went back for a second try the shop owner got smart and upped the ante with a machette of his own. after the store owner threw the machette at the would be theif he proceeded to chase the guy down the street with a shovel.)

Merry Christmas!

two killed in California quake

i pray God works in the lives of those that were around them

well today has been eventful. among other smaller things i've experienced my first eathquake.

initial reports are as follows:A strong earthquake occurred at 11:15:56 AM (PST) on Monday, December 22, 2003.
The magnitude 6.5 event occurred 11 km (7 miles) NE of San Simeon, CA. The hypocentral depth is 8 km ( 5 miles).

for some perspective here's a map

it seems that just a minute or two after the initial quake we felt the effects here in Orange County along the coast next to the second to the last island you can see. pretty crazy.

at first everyone in the office just thougtht they were getting dizzy. sickness is going around so it seemed understandable until it continued and we realized what was happening.

i pray no one was killed but as you can see from the map this is a major quake...

so i watched the second of the three matriix movies today. as it was reveiled that the prophecy might be a lie i was struck by thoughts of what the Jews might have thought when Jesus failed to conquer the Romans and was taken prisoner.

it was over. another false messiah (mutliple "ones"). another hope destroyed. a revolution crushed... or so they thought.

what they didn't realize and recognize was that Jesus had always been subverting normal conceptions. he came from a despised Jewish couple in the backwaters of the subjugated realm. not only that he was born without a family roof over his head or even a respectable number of family around Him.

how rocking is our God? unlike some diety that steps down to rock the earth and demand fealty He is a God that sacrifces for lower beings, that loves His frail children who have nothing to offer.

well now that Ken has shifted to his new site and put my link up i guess i better get back to some serious blogging... well maybe.

the next half a week or so is going to be crazy with a friend's wedding (me in a tux!), a newsletter to make and send, people to say goodby to, last minute work items and whatever else has to be done before i return to my snowy origins.

i do love this time of the year. the time with family for me is always priceless. no one jokes around like family and no one loves like them either.

it's also the time contemplating a divine incarnation on a tiny planet full of fragile and twisted beings. what other words fill you with so much awe and humility as the call to "fall on your knees" before a baby at once so weak and so powerful? it's all just too much. it touches me, a person with a deep appreciation for epics and ideals, at my core.

how can i possibly express the depth of joy i feel tonight.

tonight i was at Bible study with good friends. we opened up three verses and God brought in so many others through different individuals who shared what God taught them through experience and His word. one of my good friends who has had special experience in the area was there even though many nights he isn't able to be there. i previously had discussions on relevant (snowflake) and read a passage yesterday that looking back ties in incredibly.

then we prayed. we prayed for a great friend who is headed to Africa for two weeks soon though she is facing a real up-hill battle here. we prayed for one member of our group who will leave us after tonight to eventually start her own group. we prayed for my good friends who are getting married and who i have the privilege to support in that endevour. all examples of God at work in great ways that related to what we learned.

this isn't any special group. we struggle to have good times many nights and we all seek slightly different things out of the group but none of that really matters. we have comitted to loving God together and spending this time together in His word with open hearts and ears trained to hear Him speak. that is enough.

i won't talk about what we studied tonight because that's not the point of this post. it's not the topic or the verses that matter really. it's the open hearts and the God at work that make a time before Him good. i never want to forget that. its a lesson i've learned in many ways at many times. i think God is trying to get a point across.

i'm beginning to realize i'm not really a details kind of person. that's not a good sign for an editor for sure but i've been questioning whether that's my future anyways.

what i wouldn't give for an opportunity to live here in So Cal and just minister to people, helping them much more directly than i seem to now.

i tell you Norah Jones really brings out the melancholy side of me. i am so looking forward to Christmas right now.

change is coming. you'll notice a more earthy color set around here. i'm still tweaking things but i'm trying to make the blog a bit more of me. i'm no mountain man but i feel most at home when i'm surrounded by God's creation, whether that's people or nature.

i was asked to read some Scripture for devotions this morning and remembered this passage. it seemed especially appropriate to remember the reason we celebrate the baby in the manger this month.

---

Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone's acclaim and pleasure. He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!"

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."
(Luk 4:14-21 MSG)

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as i read some blogs and message boad posts from friends and then thought of my own struggles i was reminded that there is hope and comfort to be found in our Savior. God didn't save us and then let us roam around here alone till He decides it's time to come back.

i'm also reminded that we are called to be ministers of reconciliation ourselves, loving God and others as an overflow of His love. i guess it's time to rest my worries in God's hands and get back on the horse.