When the Christmas music begins...

Hillary and I were talking about when you start playing the Christmas music and we both agreed that it begins after Thanksgiving. Then, as I was reading in my office today and was getting sleepy I put on some music through Pandora (an Internet radio service). I didn't like the music on the station I was on, so my hand drifted and before I knew it I had selected the Christmas station. When I told Hillary tonight, she said how she'd been wanting to listen to Christmas music as well, and it is on in the background right now. A close friend of mine actually starts listening in late October!
This is an exciting time of year and I'm looking forward to turning my focus towards the coming of the child/king Jesus Christ. I heard one author refer to the incarnation as the "glorious impossibility." It is mind blowing to think of God taking on flesh. There are readings that I go through each year at advent and it is good for my soul to walk that same path year in and out. Following God's story from the beginning of the Hebrew Scriptures through the prophets to the birth of Jesus and then beyond is a wonderful journey on which to participate.

The beautiful end of fall

On Monday, I was in New Haven meeting with one of our community group leaders over lunch and as I left the parking garage there was this stuffing view of blue skies and the profile of the city. Then yesterday Hillary was raking and Wesley was romping in the leaves. With the blue sky, the bright green grass, and the various yellows and browns of the leaves it made me glad for fall. This week has been a little nuts with different meetings and getting things sorted for a conference I'm headed to this weekend. Six of us from church are headed to a counseling Conference down in VA on marriage. It should be a great time of learning, refreshment, and hopefully direction for the counseling ministry at our church. My parents will have Wesley for a few days while we're gone, so it should be an exciting adventure for all.
For the past few months I've continued to think a lot about leadership. It is on my mind more and more, and I wish that I had more to say so far. The big conslusions, are that it is difficult and I can't avoid it. I will be a good leader or a bad leader, but regardless, I will lead. God is definitely refining me and I need to see what he wants me to see. I'm glad that my worth and identity are in Christ, not in my success, progress, or achievements.

back in Delaware

Twelve years ago as a Freshman in college I arrived at the university of Delaware and had no idea I would end up where I am. This weekend I was back in the area for a missions conference at the church I attended through college. It was both fun and a little strange to step back into that world, now that I'm at a totally different place in life. Thinking about my connection to E.P. (Evangelical Presbyterian - the name of the church) there are a few things that come to mind:
-a place of training and development: EP is the first church that I was really connected to as an adult and they took a lot of time to train and develop me. When I first attended there I had no idea what a Presbyterian church was and had a very slim understanding of theology. There were all sorts of people who taught me and then gave me opportunities to use what I had learned. In retrospect I see how important this investment was.
-a place of direction and support: Between my Jr. and Sr. years at college I had a summer internship working with the teenagers at E.P. It was through this time and subsequent conversations that I ended up heading to seminary and then into ministry. There were all sorts of precursors to this decision, but it was the experience of working for the church that helped bring it all together. Then when I went to seminary and eventually came to New England the church was there to help make it happen. Even being there this past weekend I feel like there was guidance that I was able to receive so that I can better serve here in CT.
-a place of friendship: Coming back, after twelve years of being connected it is great to run into people I've known and been loved by over the years. Those long term relationships mean a lot, and it is refreshing to be around people who knew me in my college years.