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| Fall is (Kinda) HereIt seems like fall wants to be here, but can't get here. Does that make any sense? You probably know what I'm talking about if you live in Atlanta. It's still way too hot for September. Tonight it feels cool and crisp outside, but that's how it should feel during the day. It's so hot that our neighborhood pool is still open. I feel gypped (Yes, that is one correct spelling of the word--I looked it up on dictionary.com), like we're owed more fall time because it starts so late here. At least the leaves still change colors. When we first moved here I was worried that this would not happen in Atlanta. I don't know why I thought that.
My favorite DC fall activity was going to the National Book Festival. Of course we can't go this year. So in lieu of our annual fall tradition, I decided to buy three bookcases from IKEA and organize our book collection, which has gotten a bit out of control since we ran out of bookshelf space a few months ago. Our unused living room will soon be transformed into a faux bookstore, if you will, since there is no bookstore (gasp) in Woodstock. I'm also looking for some new titles to add to our collection. Any suggestions?
Books on my to-read list:
1. there is no me without you
2. A True and Faithful Narrative
3. Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One
4. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
On a side note...GO EAGLES! Yes, I know they lost last Sunday, but I am still hopeful. By the way, The Sports Gal writes a funny rant on ESPN.com's Page 2.
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| Goodbye SummerSarah
1. I started teaching again on August 13. Can you believe how early school starts in Georgia?! My body did not take it well the first two weeks, but now it's back on school schedule, which means going to bed at 9PM. A new school year means a new start. That's the great thing about teaching--you get so many chances to start over. I have an eclectic bunch this year--a genius who will someday make an amazing scientific discovery after winning the National Spelling Bee, one who model-walks down the hallway as if it is her runway, another who does the best fighting ninja impressions with nothing but two pencils.
2. We saw my favorite Christian band, Shane and Shane, in concert last weekend. Fantastic. Check out their newest CD, Pages. By the way, here's some Christian gossip (I guess that's an oxymoron)--Shane Barnard and Bethany Dillon are engaged.
3. Will took a series of ordination exams last week. I guess ordination exams are for pastors what medical board exams are for doctors. Let's just say it involved a lot of stress, long nights, and the transformation of our kitchen table into a study site. Along with preparing for ordination, Will's going back to school! He'll be a student at Emory's Candler School of Theology starting this Tuesday.
4. We're headed to Turner Field on Monday afternoon to watch the Phillies beat the Braves. Even though we've lived in Atlanta for a year and a half now, we still do not root for any of the local teams, with the exception of the team from Warner Robins, GA that won the Little League Baseball World Series.
5. Listen to "Congratulations: How to be Rich, Part I."
Hello Fall
Will
6. Like Sarah mentioned, I took a series of four ordination exams last week, which required a great deal of studying, cramming, reading, and writing. After a busy summer of ministry, my church graciously gave me two weeks of study leave (Monday-Friday) to prepare for my exams. I spent much of the time with my iPod and books (Bible, Book of Order, Book of Confessions, Calvin, Barth, and friends) studying at Borders, Panera Bread, and our kitchen table.
7. All the studying these past few weeks did help me get back into a "student" mode, as I begin my Master of Theology program at Emory's Candler School of Theology this week. Because the school of theology is not separate from, but right near the middle of campus (it's very close to the University Student Center, undergraduate dormitories, and various department buildings), it's strange being in a college campus environment and having to use my Emory Card to get into buildings and pay for books and food. But strange in a good way and I just need to shake off the rust. I even used the "@emory.edu" email account provided by the school to sign up for Facebook.
8. Sarah and I are excited for football season. College football has already been great, especially with that first emotional home game at Virginia Tech (one of the students from my church, Chris, is a VT freshman, and was at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg today) and that crazy awesome upset with Appalachian State beating Michigan in Ann Arbor. In the pros, Sarah thinks this is the Eagles' year (but she thinks that every year). She loves the Eagles so much and I just hope they don't let her down this season.
9. I joined a Fantasy Football league with my church's English Ministry again. I still don't know if I really like Fantasy Football, but wanted to join to be a part of the camaraderie. My team is called "Dumbledore's Army" and it's not too bad: Joseph Addai, Lawrence Maroney, Brandon Jacobs, Marshawn Lynch, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Donald Driver, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Tony Gonzalez, Brett Favre, Jay Cutler, and Rex Grossman. Well, except for Rex Grossman.
10. For Sarah's birthday this year, I thought this would be a good way to celebrate: Two tickets to a college football game, Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech. It's a Thursday night game on November 1 (one day before her birthday) right here in Atlanta at Georgia Tech. But we'll be rooting for the visiting team. Go Hokies.
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| I'm home. After a few weeks away at different retreats, conferences, and an amazing week on a short-term mission trip to the Dominican Republic, I am settling back into the swing of things at home and as Sarah puts it, "returning to Planet Earth". Some highlights from the past few weeks:
1. Attending the Forward Student Conference right here in Duluth at the Gwinnett Arena. On the final evening of the conference, Hillsong United led praise and it was such a powerful and captivating experience to sing the songs of God with such conviction, passion, and desire. Not only are they the best, but they invite people to taste, see, hear, and experience just how awesome and great our one true God is in worship.
2. Going to our South Atlantic Synod Youth Retreat in Saint Simon Island, Georgia. I took a group of five youth students and a college student who served as a retreat counselor and we had a great time traveling together in my church's minivan. In addition to the privilege of being used by God to preach His Word, I really enjoyed getting to know and befriend other young adult professionals and pastors who are investing their lives working with young people.
3. "Hallows, not Horcruxes.." Reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Loved just about everything about the book and how J.K. Rowling weaved and brought everything together in the Harry Potter series. I won't say more because I don't want to be a spoiler to those who have not yet finished the book. I had a very limited time frame to read the book, so I started it on a Sunday evening two weeks ago around 7:00 pm and finished it that same night around 4:00 am. I think I took two quick breaks: one dessert break for a piece of key lime pie and a cup of hot chocolate and one bathroom break to wash up, brush my teeth, and you know, use the toilet.
4. This was my second time traveling to the Dominican Republic with my church’s summer mission team. Looking back at our time in the Dominican Republic this summer, the best way to describe it was like a dream come true. While we're only there for a week, I love that we do our best to pack our schedule and make the most of every minute. We visit villages, run medical centers during the day, host VBS programs for multitudes of children, have evening revivals, sing, dance, laugh, pray, and serve from the moment we rise at 5:00 am until we get ready for bed at 11:00 pm. It's absolutely heartbreaking to witness firsthand such abject poverty in villages only 90 minutes outside of the lavish resorts of Santo Domingo. But it is also so hopeful and moving when we meet and befriend people who may have little in the eyes of the world, but are rich in God’s love as they celebrate God's faithfulness in their lives and accept Jesus Christ to be their Savior.
My specific task on our mission team is to preach the Gospel in the morning, afternoon, and evening. I am blessed and entrusted with opportunities to preach at the church to local Dominican believers, in the villages to children during our afternoon program, and in these same villages for evening revival meetings. Before and after every one of my sermons, I fell to my knees, looking back and remembering the bright-eyed and fearful twenty-year-old college student I was with this huge dream of preaching the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And it was on the mission field in the Dominican Republic where I can testify about a faithful God who makes even the biggest and seemingly most improbable of dreams come true.
As great as this mission trip is, it is not for the faint of heart. Our days are long, the weather is hot, the conditions are third-world hard, but there's just too much joy in losing yourself to the service of God alongside local Dominican church members at Canaan Evangelica Iglesia and a mission team who share the same heart and yearning for others to hear and believe the good news of the Gospel. When we were out in our village, the local Dominican church pastor at Canaan, a wonderfully gifted and passionate man named Rafael, told us to tell all the children and adults to “mate de mango”, which means to “meet under the mango tree”. We had set up our children’s programs and medical center underneath this rather large mango tree in the center of the village.
As the praise music began, our team would joyfully go out all around the village and literally run as they brought all the beautiful Dominican children to sing and learn about Jesus under the mango tree. I wish you could have been there to see it; it was like witnessing a small piece of heaven on earth as we all gathered in the saving name of Jesus Christ under this mango tree in a remote village of the Dominican Republic. The vision statement of Canaan Evangelica Iglesia is among the best I’ve ever come across: “Hoy Para Republica Dominicana, Manana Para El Mundo”, which means “Today for the Dominican Republic, Tomorrow for the World.” For our mission team, it’s an honor to be a part of God’s kingdom work and experience His heart for not only the Dominican Republic, but the world as God sees it.
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| Last week, we went on a road trip to Virginia and Maryland with six of the girls from our church. It was beautiful and we were very happy to take our girls with us to visit Sarah's mom in Richmond, see the sights in our nation's capital, and meet our good friends from Global Mission Church in Maryland. We hit the road on Sunday evening and drove four hours before stopping to spent the night at a hotel in Charlotte. The next day, we made the five hour trip from Charlotte to Richmond to spend the night with Sarah's mom. On the way to Richmond, we had a late lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in North Carolina. After arriving in Richmond, we left the girls at Sarah's house to spend an hour with Sarah's grandma at her apartment. I am always in awe of her grandma's energy and enthusiasm for life at her age of 91 years old. We then spent Monday night hanging out on Midlothian Turnpike driving go-karts, playing putt-putt, and having Sarah's mom treat us to a delicious steak dinner at a restaurant called Hops.
        
On Tuesday morning, we drove two hours from Richmond into Maryland. We spent the entire day seeing all the cool sights in Washington DC. Since we used to live so close to DC in our Silver Spring apartment, it was especially nice to go back into a city we love to visit the Smithsonian museums, walk through DC, and check out the Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and the big pencil that is the Washington monument.
        
We came back from DC to have dinner with our friends from GMC in Silver Spring. We spent Tuesday night and the entire day on Wednesday with friends from GMC at Jerilyn and Susan's home, visiting Rio, celebrating Independence Day at Stephen Brown's home, laughing, eating, playing Guitar Hero and Nintendo Wii, having an impromptu talent show, and praying together right before we left. It was so great to see all of our friends from GMC growing up and maturing as college students and young adult professionals. Being away from Maryland now for a year and a half, I more fully appreciate all the love I shared and received serving such a talented, unique, diverse, and great group of young people as their pastor. Sarah and I were also so touched and moved by how welcoming, warm, and kind our friends from GMC were to our girls from Georgia. Honestly, this trip was so special to me because of the way God used it to remind me how truly blessed I am to have invested my life, shared my love, and worked alongside people who continue to amaze me with their maturing faith and deep love for God and others. I am very proud and thankful to be a part of their lives. The last picture you'll see is the championship trophy for the 9th and 10th grade boys team in the 2007 GMC Basketball Tournament that Josh gave to me as a gift. He told me that he was the coach of a championship team that was a mix of Korean-American boys from the church and African-American and Hispanic boys from the local Hewitt Avenue neighborhood whom I had worked so hard to reach out to and invite to our church. He wanted me to know that he didn't forget about my dream and that it was coming true.
                 
After sleeping at Sarah's home in Richmond on Wednesday night, we made the long drive of nine hours back to Atlanta on Thursday. Sarah will actually be back in Richmond at the end of the month while I'm away for a week-long mission trip to the Dominican Republic. For our next adventure, we really want to visit Philadelphia.
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| I'm enjoying a week of vacation away from everything at home and church, which has been thoroughly refreshing and rejuvenating. I spent the first few days traveling home to New York to visit family. It was really nice catching up with my parents and younger brother. My brother and I played basketball, split a pizza for dinner, and he told me about his upcoming mission trip this summer to Argentina with our home church in Long Island. I spent the remaining time visiting grandparents, going on errands with my mother, reading at the local Borders, and I rented and watched "Because I Said So" and "The Last King of Scotland". I was really disappointed in how lame a movie "Because I Said So" was, but thought "The Last King of Scotland" was a fascinating movie. I know Forest Whitaker won a well-deserved Oscar for his incredible performance as a Ugandan dictator, but I also thought James McAvoy was equally great in his part as a young Scottish doctor who befriends the dictator and witnesses the agony and atrocious suffering in Uganda. It's as if we are seeing the horrific transformation of the Ugandan leader from an unsure military general into a brutal dictator through the young doctor's eyes.
On Saturday, Sarah and I went to visit our friend Jimmy, who just completed his first year of residency at the University of Michigan Health Center in Ann Arbor. Our friend, Ellen, who works in Chicago, also joined us for our time in Ann Arbor. On our first night there, we walked through downtown Ann Arbor and were surprised by how lively and delightful everything was in the city. After stopping for some dessert at a local ice cream shop called Kilwin's, we told Jimmy that we were very excited to check out the very first Borders bookstore in the United States, found in Ann Arbor. It actually doesn't look any different from other Borders bookstores, but it's cool how they refer to themselves as Store #1. Ann Arbor is a great place for book lovers like us, with unique and eclectic bookstores on seemingly every street block. In addition to going to Borders Store #1, we spent a considerable amount of time at a pleasant little bookstore called Dawn Treader Book Shop.
 
  
  
On Sunday, we went to worship at North Ridge Church, which is a thriving megachurch in metro Detroit led by a pastor named Brad Powell. After a great worship experience with an exceptional message from Brad Powell, we went to lunch for delicious sandwiches at Zingerman's Delicatessen. Zingerman's is apparently very popular not only in Ann Arbor, but known as one of the coolest small companies in America. It's a very special and unique deli that definitely feels like one of those places Rachael Ray might choose and cheerfully dine at for lunch on her "$40 A Day" show on the Food Network. We spent the rest of the day walking around the University of Michigan campus and seeing more of downtown Ann Arbor.
  
  
  
On Monday, we rented canoes and ventured out on the Huron River. It was a peaceful and very gentle river that actually reminded me of the very tepid Delware River we went rafting on back in college. After braving the 2.5 mile journey down the Huron River, Jimmy and I went into the city of Detroit for the Tigers baseball game at Comerica Park. I was very impressed with Comerica Park not only for its design and look (it's one of the newer ballparks as nice as Camden Yards and Citizens Bank Park), but also its very passionate and present fans. The game was almost at capacity with over 36,000 fans for a Monday evening game against the lowly Texas Rangers. It was exciting to see the home crowd so into the game and their team, cheering for all of the Tigers and loudly booing the Rangers designated hitter, Sammy Sosa.
  
  
We all left Ann Arbor this afternoon and now Sarah and I are back home in Georgia. It's back to work tomorrow morning.
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