Bittersweet....

Well, i have put this off long enough... i sort of hinted at a bittersweet visit to Indianapolis (a great town no matter what you hear otherwise) in a recent Twitter update... but i'd like to explain what i meant.
My family and i lived in Indy for a long time as a matter of fact for all of our children, Indianapolis is really our "home". Don't misunderstand me, we absolutely love being back in the Chicago area but outside of this part of the world, the longest we have ever lived in one place (almost 10 years) was Indy...
i guess the bittersweet part was having an opportunity on Saturday afternoon at a wedding reception (congratulations Christiana & Jason!) to visit with a few people from the church where for seven years i served as one of the pastors... As i fell asleep on Sunday night all i could think of were the missed opportunities to impact the area and the lives of families in that part of Indianapolis. i found myself wondering what in the world we were thinking?

We went into that church and pretty much took a bad situation and made it lots and lots worse. i am complicit because instead of standing up and asking "what in the world are we doing"... i just went along with it all and now it all looks like so much carnage... even as i write this entry i struggle with what i am feeling.... really, really saddened by what i saw this past weekend, but thrilled to be serving where i am serving... very surreal, difficult and embarrassing to explain. Maybe the guilt is just now really catching up to me all these years later or maybe just maybe, i am trying to wrap my mind around how the church in the United States can appear to be so fantastically vibrant on one hand but so incredibly anemic on the other...

Whatever the case i think maybe i have gotten this out of my system, i am thrilled to still be making a difference, my hope is that we will have many more years of being able to touch other people's lives right where we are....

Things We Never Get To Do...

Short post today... well my brother and his wife and daughter arrived here yesterday! We are planning on taking a trip into the Chicago this morning and into the early afternoon. It should be a great time!

We are going to head down to Navy Pier and check out the sites in and around the area... it's kind of funny the things you DON'T do when you live in or near large cities like Chicago or New York...

i grew up in New York City and as far as i can remember..

• never went to the Empire State building
• never went to the Statue of Liberty
• never crossed the Brooklyn Bridge
• never went to the World Trade Centers
• never saw a Broadway musical or play
• never went down to the Financial district

but since we moved away and i have started my own family... about every time we get a chance to go back... we DO go to one of these places and enjoy the city....

Where ever you are today get out and enjoy it... you'll be pleasantly surprised, i guarantee it!

Have a great weekend!

Amazing... Simply Amazing!

January 1985....
On a brisk winter night Darren and i meandered across a dark campus in Lincoln, Illinois... we are transfer students and are trying to get acclimated to our new school after a "difficult"
semester at another college. It just so happens that night, a womens' basketball game is taking place in what this place calls a "gym". Partially to get out of the cold and partially to see if there are really any other people on this college campus, we make our way in. Once inside we stand in the middle of two sets of bleachers (if you can call them that) to our left and to our right.

Because the gym is so small, bleachers only fit on one side of the gym... the side we entered from. We never really planned on staying long but just before we turn to go, looking to my right, i notice one of the Lady Angels (that is what our women's athletic teams are nicknamed) dribbling the basketball up the floor going from right to left... and the fact is, she is absolutely one of the cutest girls i think I have ever seen... as i watch her help the team set up its' offense, i with intention, turn to my friend and say...."Darren within one year, i am going to take that girl... the one dribbling the ball, yeah her.... out on a date!"

Amazingly enough, i didn't even know her name!?!


January 1986...
Ruthie and i go out on our very first date.... We eat dinner at "The Depot" and since i'd never seen the original 101 Dalmatians (which coincidentally was celebrating that very month, its' 25 year anniversary of being released to the public by Walt Disney) we take that in as well. The food and the movie were exceptional but the amazing part of the evening was simply... Ruthie.
i knew i was done... she was the one.





January 1988
Because of the crazy rules (that i'll maybe explain another time and that have since been changed) Ruthie and i are married not just once but twice. In a ceremony at my home church in the south suburbs of Chicago witnessed by lots of friends and family and another ceremony that had to happen before midnight witnessed by her mom and dad and maternal grandparents in the living room of her dad and mom's church parsonage in Indiana... we become husband and wife. In a few days we begin our amazing journey together to Canada and an amazing journey together in life.




January 2008
This month marks our being married for 20 years!
Why she puts up with me, i do not know... but this one thing i do know...
She is still the cutest girl i have ever seen... God has blessed me way beyond anything i deserve and she is amazing.... simply amazing!

Life is short... get a WHAT?!?

Can you make out the Chicago billboard to the left?

Yeah, i've edited it because it needed to be edited!

Both shots are midrift pictures, the one to the far left was a picture of a scantily clad woman from her neck down. The picture to the far right was a guy whose pectoral area was in top form.

If you can't make out the words on the ad, you just need to know it was placed by by a legal firm and encourages people to remember... "Life is short. Get a divorce."

i guess what i don't get is how in the world, in good conscience, anyone could put a billboard up like that anywhere in the world!?!

One of the people responsible for placing the billboard commented by stating that the billboard promotes "happiness and personal integrity". Well, it promotes something alright but i'm not convinced it is either one of those two things!

Is the answer to a short life, divorce? Some might say "Oh Rob, you're just over-reacting... the thing was put up all in fun...." Yeah maybe but as far as i know, almost everyone that has experienced divorce from the husband or wife, to the children, to the in-laws, to other friends and relatives would overwhelmingly agree that "happiness" was not necessarily what they got out of that ordeal.

So somebody tell me, is this normal? Do most married people walk around thinking that their personal integrity will be kicked up a notch when they get that divorce?

If so, we (as a nation) are even more screwy than i thought....

PS. i should add one note.... the parking garage owners on whose building this was placed ended up taking the billboard down once the word got out about how insane this advertisement seemed to be.