Long Overdue....

Amazing to think that exactly three months ago today was the last time i wrote in my blog. There have been a lot of things that have happened in those three months....

• Ruthie and i spent a night out in Ottawa, IL at "The River Loft"... just the two of us... it was very cool (thanks Mary)!
• Spent some time in Savannah, GA at an event for XP's at Savannah Christian Church... the event was worth it if only because i had dinner at "The Lady & Sons" (it is so NOT over rated)!
• Had an opportunity to travel to Louisville, KY for a convention, made a bunch of new connections and an invitation to submit a chapter for a book on diversity in the local church!
• Performed a wedding for a young man that i have known for almost twenty years... (Zach was really little when we first met and i was much younger)
• Watched my oldest son pack-up his room in anticipation of leaving for college, who for the first time in 15 years will not be "bunking" with his younger brother...
• Spoke with small group leaders about how to become great storytellers...
• Celebrated the birthday of the hottest woman i know just this week (this, of course, is the same person i spent some time with out in Ottawa, IL)....
• Ate Aurelio's Pizza at 1959 prices (their 50th anniversary).... a "Fiesta" size pepperoni & cheese pizza....$6.95!!!
  

With summer coming to an end there is a tinge of sadness but still, i am excited about the fall! There are so many new opportunities and challenges to look forward to in the next few months...

Yep, this was overdue and it's time to get back into the swing of things... i can hardly wait!

The right place, at the right time....

For most of my growing up years i lived in a town called Park Forest, Illinois. In many ways it was an idyllic little suburb to grow up in.

We had a great Park district program, every summer, on the 4th of July you could go to the hill behind Freedom Hall and watch the fireworks. The Aqua Center was where all my friends and i spent every day during the summer trying to impress the girls (and yes once upon a time i went swimming every day, sometimes once in the morning and then again at night)! The "craters" right down the street from my house was a BMX cyclers' dream come true. And of course you could go to the shrine of authentic south suburban pizza by visiting Aurelio's flagship store over in Homewood, it's just THAT good!

My mom never... and i mean NEVER drove me anywhere... if i couldn't get there by walking then it was obviously too far and i really didn't need to go there in the first place!

In the south central area of Cook county with portions of the village in Will county, it in many ways just didn't seem to "fit" this part of Illinois. But since a significant portion of what is now Park Forest was once a stop on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves in the 19th century perhaps, growing up in that town makes sense after all.

It was here that i had the lesson reinforced that the color of a person's skin did not make them more or less valuable as a human being...
It was here that i had the lesson reinforced that should i never allow anyone or anything else to take my personal dignity away from me....
It was here that i had the lesson reinforced that if i thought i could achieve it, then nothing could stop me except me.
It was a town where whites lived next door to blacks who lived next door to Hispanics who lived next door to Asians who lived next door to people who had no real clue what their ethnicity was... and looking back on it now, i never thought too much about it but the experience of growing up in that town has left an indelible mark on me...

Perhaps that is why i have long sought to be part of another community that creates that same sort of atmosphere... but this time not for me but for my children and my children's children.

And i believe that community is THE church... my prayer is that i can be part of a movement that will see this as part of its' destiny... to truly become a house of prayer for all nations... or more literally all people. It's just who i am.