This is like the best quick vacation we may ever take (hyperbole intended). We are staying at a hotle down town that has cruiser bikes (just like New Belgiums) and we can ride them to 4 Breweries — so that is our day on Saturday. At some point we are going to hit up Mecca — I mean New Belgium Brewing. I have so many questions I want to ask them, but mostly, I’m just excited to be there. They are one of the only sustainable breweries in America — wind powered and biodiesel trucks. We are also going to Odells, CooperSmiths, Budweiser, Fort Collins Brewery.

Then on Sunday we are going hiking in the Colorado Rockies. We wanted to do a coupe 14ers, but there i still too much snow. So we are doing a little lower hike that leads to a lake. I can’t wait.

I plan to take a million pictures. So stay tuned.

joel

I still haven’t had time to re-create my banner though (hence the big open white area). But I finally logged back into Google analytics again today and to my astonishment I still get 200+ hits a month in this site and I’ve updated it I think 4 times in the last 6 months. So that motivated me to write some more on here. But no guarantees how long I will stay motivated.

peace
joel

joel

Just for fun I did a rough (conservative) calculation of what I made as a part-time baker for 15 months:

peace
joel

I’m sure many of us doubt that this is possible. In a day where anybody from Jerry Falwell and James Dobson to Jim Wallis are talking about their faith we sometimes forget that it is possible. Some have forgotten that faith is not a baseball bat.

I stumbled upon this speech from Barack Obama that was given this summer. And boy am I glad I stumbled, because it is a beautiful speech that is filled with honesty, conviction, and understanding.

The speech is 40 minutes long. But i guarantee you that the 40 minutes you spend watching it will be worth it.

peace
joel

– Figuring out how much it will cost to build a space out
– How to get good demographics of Seattle without having to pay a fortune
– Marketing — how will I market myself and to whom
–Rental space — what is a good price and what loop holes do i need to be aware of?

thanks y’all.
joel

Not to transition abruptly, but I hope it sells quickly because we bought a condo in South Lake Union that we are itching to get into. Our closing date on that one is April 12th. Exciting. And it sounds like silliness, but we bought another condo as well. You know the ones we had been praying for for almost a year — well we got our first choice. But since those aren’t going to be finished until at least October 2008 we thought we would buy a different one in SLU instead of renting. craziness? some have argued. risky? maybe. but worth it to live one city block from whole foods market? 8 blocks from Lake Union. 5 blocks from the Space Needle. 7 Blocks from the downtown core. 14 blocks from Pike Place Market. ahhhh.

oh, yeah, and if any of you are looking for a great condo to buy. buy ours. the listing is here.

peace
joel

do pray.

joel

these words destroy us. moment by moment. inch by inch. these words constrict the life in us until all we can feel is death.

recently i was in South Lake Union and ran into a man named (for this conversation) Alan. Alan is in his 40’s and is a recovering alcoholic that lives in a community house of recovering alcoholics. This is his third time trying to make it through the entire program. The first two times, obviously he failed. So as I watched him write, scribble, sweat, and throw away draft after draft of his resume I couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing. So I approached him and said, “Hey, I’m Joel, whatcha workin’ on?” His response was simple, “My resume.” He scribbled down some more words as I watched and wondered what his life has been like, how did he get to seattle, why am i and him in the same space. Soon a conversation started and I was able to get answers to some of my questions. But the one that is relevant for this post was when I asked him why he thought he was an alcoholic. A risky question I know, but he seemed to be self-aware enough to answer it — fortunately, I was right. Without waiting for me to put the question mark on my question he said one word — RESENTMENT.

really?

I didn’t expect such an answer. but as it sat with me, and has continued to sit with me for 5 days now I feel his answer to be true.

resentment is a form of self-contempt. when i have resentment I ask myself questions like, “why did I do that?” or “what was i thinking, i’m such an idiot.” If I sit in these questions enough i soon begin to believe them to be true, and because i believe them to be true I then act on them. and it is never good to act on a lie. acting on lies gets me in trouble, and if you are anything like me, acting on lies probably gets you in trouble. none of us like trouble — so why do we continue to live this way? why do i, and us, continue to believe the lies the pinball around in our heads about ourselves. why won’t the tape stop playing?

the answer is complex, and could be anyone of a million things and so the brilliance of Jesus saves the day once again. Jesus knows that humans play tapes in their head of lies and he knows that when humans act on them trouble happens. So what does he do? he questions where we gather our identity from. he systematically destroys the very things that we think we get our identity from, and when there is nothing left to say “this is what gives me worth” he comes along side and says crazy, but true, things like “in order to find life you have to lose it” and “the last shall be first and the first shall be last” and “your identity is in me, the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (now is the time to take a deep breathe and exhale slowly.)

i continually gather my identity from things other than God. and when I do — i end up empty and screaming out for hope.

may i, and may we all, not belief the lies.

learning to love
joel

yup, that’s right.

i now own a mac — the cool silvery one.

ahh, my coolness and trendiness just increased 10 fold. but contrary to popular belief — they still crash.

joel