so how strange is it that I have my own website with my own name on it….i am fearing either my narcissism inflating or having some sort of existential crisis.

peace
joel

Follow these links for pictures of Thanksgiving and Marathon

peace
joel

ok, so this is my new site…welcome. I hope to be able to get access to my old data soon so that my thoughts aren’t lost forever.

peace
joel

It was a normal sunday morning — I was in Michigan and Brooke was in Seattle :). Then I made a phone call, to Brooke — for she had called me three times on my cell phone and once at my parents house. This was my hint that my normal Sunday was going to turn into something other than normal.

“Hey Babe, you called?” I said as Brooke picked up the phone. “Uhh, Joel, we have a rat, it was behind the toilet and now it is somewhere in our house.” she calmly said.
“A rat you say? Are you sure?”
“Yes, it was like 5 pounds and had a huge tail.”

The conversation continued for a short while as we tried to figure out what to do. I hung up the phone and cursed a man named Murphy and his stupid law. I wasn’t scheduled to hop on a plane until the next day and here Brooke was, in Seattle with a rat in our 600 square foot apartment.

I arrived home the next day and saw traps set up all over the house, but none of them had been frequented by Mr. Simon Rat. I week went by and Simon made his nightly visits to our window sills, our bathtub, our kitchen floor, and our living room floor — apparently Simon thought that all of the above where his restroom.

This past friday an exterminator came — and did nothing except put out some rat poison and two additional traps. Simon continued to make frequent visits in our kitchen and didn’t seem to mind that there was poison. In fact, he somehow got some of the peanut butter that was on the poison and only managed to nibble on one small corner of the poison.

It has now been two days since Brooke and I have seen evidence of our friend Simon. We aren’t sure where he is. It is possible that he somehow got a large supply of food and decided to hibernate for a couple days. It is possible that he ate enough of the poison and is now in rat heaven. Or, it is even possible that he is just taking it easy, maybe watching a M*A*S*H marathon on TBS.

Oh Simon, where art thou? If thou is dead, please do not stink up our house. If thou is alive, please come eat this lovely poison or get caught in these wonderful traps. I’m sick of sharing my house with you. All you do is take, take, take — I can’t continue to be in relationship with you if you never give back.

peace
joel

p.s. I’ll update you all when there is resolution
p.p.s. You will not want to miss this

Seventeen years ago my youngest brother greeted the world. Happy Birthday Jay. May you feel celebrated and loved on your day of birth.

peace
joel

Below is a version of the Lord’s Prayer that is commonly
spoken in New Zealand.

Eternal Spirit
Earth-Maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all.
Loving God, in whom is heaven.
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the earth!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever.
Amen.

Thoughts?
joel

So I feel like I should blog, but as I sit here I can’t think of anything to blog about. Sure I’ve got a lot of thoughts, but none of them seem to make any sense — nor do I have enough words about them to type something up that can be engaged with. I do have some ponderings though…feel free to respond with your thoughts…

One pondering
What is the proper Christian response to the quote “Homosexual Agenda?” Better stated, is there a proper Christian response to the quote “Homosexual Agenda?” Or, what is the homosexual agenda beyond equal rights?

Another Pondering
How the heck does the miracle of birth happen? Now, i’m not asking this from a ‘birds and the bees’ perspective, but more so from the profundity of it all. I just watched an ultra sound video of a friend of mine’s little baby. I could hear the heartbeat, see the stomach, legs and the brain. I’m blown away by how this happens. Every time I look at this friend I am looking at two human beings — one carrying another one around while it grows inside her. This doesn’t make sense

Still another pondering
What am I going to do for a job? I turned in my resignation yesterday and told my employer that my last day will be December 16th. It felt really weird to quit. As I sent the email I had to close my eyes.

Yet another pondering
Why do people suffer?

peace
joel

There are some things in life that come full circle. January 24th, 2003 I was sitting in a leadership meeting at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville Michigan when a friend of mine, Jon Dewaal muttered the phrase “Mars Hill Graduate School.” Almost exactly nine months after I heard this phrase I, along my my wife of two weeks, and Jon DeWaal drove across the country to relocate to the great town of Seattle where Jon and I would start school.

Now, not even three years later I sit in a hotel room across the parking lot from MHBC with Jon Dewaal and Tim Soerens. Why are we here you may ask? Well, we are helping lead a leadership conference for MHBC’s leaders and parishoners.

As we landed in Gerald R. Ford International Airport it felt as though the two worlds that I have spent all my life in were performing a strange dance. As we drove down I-196 I pointed out to those with me where I lived for two years, where Brooke and I spent our first two nights of marriage, and showed people the very room where I heard of Mars Hill Graduate School for the first time.

What a weird life I live.

peace
joel