Philly: first impressions

Even as my plane descended into Philadelphia and I saw their version of a downtown skyline, my mind had still not wrapped around the fact that I was moving to this city. Now, approximately 48 hours later… it still hasn’t.

I’ve decided to make my debut Philly post one of first impressions (which I’m notoriously bad at) of the city of brotherly love. That way, in x months I can write a “final impressions” post and I can make a Venn diagram comparing the two. That’s be fun, considering I haven’t created the conjoined circle chart in centuries. (Obviously centuries is an exaggeration, I just wanted to keep the alliteration going as long as I could). So without any more useless jabber, first impressions:

House/City: When we first pulled up to the house I’m staying in I thought, “man… this is really the city”. What I mean is that it’s surrounded by one-way streets, cars parallel parked everywhere, everything is tall, and everything is crammed. There’s very little open/green space, few trees, and lots of trash. Now back to the house: It’s a row home, approximately 20 feet wide and 50 feet deep, three stories high. I’ll provide pictures soon, which reminds me of another first impression: there are countless places to take good pictures in this city. I walked in and was greeted rather aggressively by Oggy.

Dog: My first impression of my new German shepherd friend was that he was bigger than I’d imagined, and I’d imagined him pretty big. His back is taller than my crotch, which he proved when he invited himself to make my legs a tunnel. Good news though: he’s really not aggressive. He likes me.

My Room: Well, it’s was amazing. It’s not fancy, just a 12 by 12 square with a bed, desk, and a dresser, but compared to the couch I’d been sleeping on in the Station, it’s real nice. Another thing I really like about my room is that I have two windows, a front window (facing the street) and a back window…

…which faces… well, that. This is my view from the desk I sit at when I do Internet things or write in my journal.

Beauty: Though I wouldn’t consider what I’ve seen of Philly so far to be beautiful (as my co-workers seem to believe), I will say that it has one highly redeeming quality: it’s murals. They are everywhere, and though many of them make little sense, the color and life they add to the otherwise dull city blocks is truly wonderful. Again, it is only a matter of time before you will enjoy pictures of the things I’m seeing. I’m still getting my bearings. I’ll treat myself to a camera day soon.

Work: I’m writing this blog from my second morning at work. My very first impression of the place is that it’s nice, they have some really sweet video editing gear, and they all know their roles… but they aren’t sure of mine. I’m still not entirely sure what it is I’m supposed to do here (see my updating my blog at work), but I’m sure that in time everything will make more sense. It’s worth noting that earlier when I said “lots of trash”, I meant more in my work neighborhood than in my house neighborhood. They are only 3.5 miles away, but they’re pretty different, to be sure.

Public Transportation: I love it, I think it’s going to end up costing about the same as driving would, and my getting lost or missing a stop is eminent.

Friends: Well, I don’t really have any Philly friends yet (people aren’t just real nice here… again, a first impression), but I have been very blessed and encouraged by my existing friends and their emails/facebook messages/phone calls. Thank you guys a lot. That’s not a first impression. I’ve been impressed by you guys for years.

Alright. So there’s first impressions. I’m going to go ask if I’m supposed to be doing something. I don’t feel about about doing the blog though, since I’m not getting paid to be here.

goodbye Dallas (area)

I’ll not patronize you in retelling the story of how I’m moving to Philly on Monday, as you have no doubt had it on your calender since I first posted about it. However, what I will do is take this opportunity, a couple days before I leave, to explain to you what it is I’ll be doing in Philly*. We’ll call it a FAQ post. Based on some recent conversations I’ve had, it seems a FAQ post is in order.

Who is your internship with? A group (and I use group in the place of company because of its size) called Another World is Possible. They make and sell CD/DVD media kits dealing with topics of war, poverty, and creation. They are in cahoots with The Simple Way, and if either of those groups sound familiar, it’s probably because you read a book called The Irresistible Revolution.

What will you be doing? I’m going to work some marketing magic for AWIP. My time will be filled by doing things such as upkeeping and updating websites, talking with clients, marketing AWIP and Potter Street Records, PR stuff, and other internly duties.

Where will you live? Great question. I’ve known the answer to this for a while but I’ve refrained from making it known the the entirety of odfm’s readership until now. Long story short, Father was extremely faithful in meeting my need for housing. I emailed a church up there my need, and within a week the need was met. A lovely couple said they were willing to help me out for the entire duration of my internship. More on that later, pending their willingness to be made instant celebrities via odfm’s endorsement. The moral of the story: praise the Lord for his provision.

Are you driving or flying? I’m flying. I decided to leave Skylar here in Texas and I’ll be utilizing Philly’s public transit system. I figure, if you’re gonna live in the Northeast, you might as well do it up right.

How long will you be there? The internship is a four month gig. By that point, I assume AWIP will have decided if they like me, and I’ll have decided if I like them, and we’ll take it from there. But for now, it’s four months.

Are you excited? Yes. Though I’m not bursting-at-the-seams-excited like I would be if I were going to a Andrew Peterson Christmas show, I am excited. It’ll be good to get out and do something new.

Why did you open a post entirely about Philadelphia with a picture of the Dallas skyline? Because I took that picture the other day and I’m kinda proud of it. I wanted to share it with you, my beloved readers. Feel free to click on it to see the (near) life-sized edition.

Are you going to cease to be a Cowboys/Mavs fan amongst the pressure applied by all the Eagles/Sixers fans up there? No. That’s a rude question. I can’t believe you have the audacity to even ask.

If you ever do a FAQ post on your blog, what will the last question be? You know, it’ll probably be this one.

So there’s that. If you have questions that I’ve failed to answer here, feel free to ask. I may not answer, but you’re welcome to ask. In the next few days you should be expecting some sort of a I-made-it-here-alright post. Until then, Godspeed.

*The information given above is highly speculative. Any or all of it (save the housing bit) is subject to change throughout the next four months. I really don’t know what I’m getting myself into, and I’m okay with that.

I’m back, like a season premier…

If you didn’t catch it from the previous post, I’ve spent the past few days skiing in the Colorado Rocky Mountains (High). I took a few pictures, which you can see over on my flickr page. I flew back to a balmy Dallas this afternoon, and during my flight I realized that it was January 1st. This brought to mind thoughts of all kinds, some of which will be made accessible to you in the following paragraphs. Before I go into some thoughts, I’ll warm you up with this one: I’m aware my absence didn’t cause a great discrepancy in the consistency of odfm’s post output as the two most recent post titles would lead you to believe. Nobody cares, but I had to get that out.

As you’ve surfed the web over the past week, you’ve inevitably come across “best/worst of 2007″ lists or “year in reviews”… things of that nature. Well I’m either not clever enough or not in the mood to produce such a list of my own. However, I can offer you this: I think (at least right now… I’ll probably change my mind by next year) that New Year’s is dumb. I’m sure I’ve got lots of trivial reasons as to why I think that, but perhaps the only useful opinion is this: I think the goings on that often accompany New Year’s are pretty fake. So many of the resolutions and other pseudo-promises we make ourselves this time of year never come to fruition. We pray all thankful-like for the past year and immediately ask for blessings on the year to come…

Here’s what it is: I hate all things fake, and I’m quick to say that people aren’t sincere in, well, lots of things. So really the problem is with me. I hate lots of things really. Again, a problem. Well since I’m such a hater, I’m going to go out with a short list (the very kind I said I wasn’t going to offer just moments ago). Things I love, in no particular order, and to go with the theme, they’ll be things from ‘07.

• Thursday nights in College Station (hope group, Office, Scrubs… amen)
• My families (blood fam, REI fam, the Hendricks, the Luther boys)
• IHOP (the pancake one, not the prayer one… sorry Jessie)
• iWitness
• Cavittville (and the walks thereabout)
• Blog comments (no link necessary… you know it)
• Ice cream
• Andrew Peterson

Ok, I’m done. I hope you aren’t depressed, and I really hope you don’t think I’m depressed. I’m not. Just go look at those pictures I took. That’ll cheer you up. Well… happy new years… or something.

why I haven’t been updating…

Well I figured it was time to move on to things other than Christmas posts. I’m not going to go into great detail as to why I’m not updating, I’ll just let the pictures do the talking. Actually, I’ll say that I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but I’ll also offer some commentary for clarity’s sake.

Above you will see what I look like. And if you were wondering, yes, most of that ice in my stache is snot… you should have seen the 1 inch icicles… no lie. The hottest it’s been since I’ve been here is, I think, 12 degrees Fahrenheit, and that doesn’t account for the wind. Below you will see a picture of what I’m looking at. Not bad. Not bad at all.

merry christmas

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government shall be on his shoulders
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

-Isaiah 9:6

0.5 of the Luther guys 1.5 years later

Last night I was the highly anticipated Luther Street Pre-Christmas Wondergathering!

As you can see from the picture, not all of the Luther Boys were able to attend. Loag’s in France, JB’s in Jacksonville, T-bomb’s in Comanche, Kent’s married, D-diddly… not sure, and Mikey’s coming after Christmas. Still though, it was a very nice evening. We had a pretty decent five show up at the Saltgrass on I-30.

Those men standing (or kneeling) on either side of me, and the men listed above who weren’t in attendance, are some of the biggest blessings in my life. We were blessed to live with one another for at least two years, some of us for four or five. These are the people that come to mind when I hear others saying, “I have the best friends in the world.” I cannot help but thinking, “um, yeah, that’s real cute, but you’re wrong you see, because my friends just dominate yours… sorry.”

It was wonderful getting together a year and a half after graduating. We caught up and talked about all the greater issues concerning the world today, solved most of them over our steaks, then took a cute picture by the fireplace. It was a blissful evening, and if I could have that kind of a gathering each year for Christmas, that’d be… well… sexy.

I love you brothers deeply. You make me a better person. You are all welcome to marry my sister.

I can take a hint

I have no doubt that I could go ahead and leave this post a simply a picture (as I did when I redefined beauty), but I feel that both a bit of commentary and an inquiry are in order.

First I’d like to point out that both of the highest trafficked days for odfm were days when the post dealt with the fact that I was leaving. I could imply from this information that my friends are happy to see me go, but I know that not all of my readers are here in the Station with me. Perhaps it was a lot of excited Philly people reading about how I’ll be joining them for winter, but I find this unlikely as I’ve still found no success in the find-a-place-to-live department.

Regardless of why so many chose to read about how I was leaving, there is no denying the fact that the masses unashamedly hate Keith Green, Andrew Peterson, and my Christmas posts. There are of course a few exceptions, such as the Supers, Linley, Andy? Ross (who may not actually be a reader, but he loves Keith) and Hannah (who will likely never have a hyperlink accompanying her name). And it’s fine. The masses aren’t required to love everything I post. I’m just thankful for blog stats that tell me the things my friends won’t. For those of you who want to read the remaining installment of Christmas Through Their Eyes, let me know, I’ll email you or something.

On an equally serious note: It has come to my attention that some people who subscribe to odfm may not be picking me up via their feeds. Of course, if this is you, you aren’t very likely reading that this is an issue at all. I guess I’m just asking for some confirmation that you rss users are still trucking with me. The comments section would be an appropriate place to answer that question. As good a place as any, I suppose.

Christmas Through Their Eyes: Joseph, husband of Mary, Christ’s mother

This has without a doubt been the craziest year of my life. Granted, I haven’t even been alive 20 years, but I seriously doubt any of my future years will outdo this one on the craziness scale.

Things a year ago looked so differently than they do today. Mary and I had just gotten engaged and I was obviously pumped up about marrying her. She was the most amazing, blameless girl that Galilee had ever seen. Then, not long after we became pledged to wed Mary, my virgin (or so I thought) fiancé, turns up pregnant. I absolutely could not believe it. I wasn’t sure how to handle it really. I was tempted to make a big fuss about it and give her a bad name (which at that point I thought she deserved), but I knew I couldn’t do that. I decided instead to just quietly end the engagement, which I figured would bring her the least disgrace. Only our family and close friends would have to know.

Then one night I had this bizarre dream. It was different than my usual weird dreams. It didn’t consist of my flying or trying to run but not being able to move or trying to talk to someone but being unable to speak… it was none of that stuff. This was seriously crazy. Here’s what the angel said:

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

And as if that isn’t crazy enough (calling me son of David, speaking specific direction to my life, the fact that the HOLY SPIRIT GOT MY GIRL PREGNANT, and that her baby is going to save people from their sins), I didn’t forget a single word when I woke up. That never happens. It was so out there, and at the same time so clear that it was Yahweh speaking to me. Of course, I knew anybody who I mentioned this dream to would write me off as a nut bag, but nevertheless, I knew it was true.

So needless to say, I decided not to divorce Mary, but instead to stay with her and support her through her pregnancy that I had nothing to do with. The gossip around town was just out of control. It was bad enough that the newly engaged couple that everyone thought was righteous turned out pregnant, and then we could hardly justify ourselves without people thinking we were, again, nut bags. An angel appeared to Mary too. We couldn’t very well justify our virgin pregnancy and our heavenly visitation to most of the church-going people. Anyway…

We endured all the stuff that goes along with being pregnant outside of marriage and “charismatic” in Galilee until we got news of the decree from Caesar that everyone had to go back to their home towns for a census. At that point we were getting closer to Mary having baby Jesus, and I was really hoping that we would at least get to Bethlehem before she went into labor. I didn’t want to think about her having a baby while we were traveling on the donkey…

I’ll opt out of describing the details of our journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, but suffice it to say it was long, and cold, and Mary was, again, very pregnant.

We showed up in Bethlehem pretty late in the evening and quickly learned two things that didn’t go well together: One, there were no places to stay in town, everything was full and, two, Mary was less than two hours away from going into labor. So we did what anyone would do in that situation: We went to a barn that was down the road from the inn.

Again, I’ll chose to leave out the details of the whole birthing process for my wife’s sake, but it was still cold, and as any birth is, it was bloody and messy. It was both disgusting and beautiful at the same time. Life is so amazing. If you could ignore the fact that the angel told us that this baby was the Messiah (which I cannot begin to describe out absurd that is… Mary and I are about the least significant people that the world’s ever seen, and the Messiah is going to save people from their sins…) if you could ignore that, then the birth was pretty normal. Perhaps the least crazy part of the whole story.

Then arguably the most random part of this year happened. This group of shepherds had come in from their fields to visit our new baby Jesus and they said that a whole host of angels had told them how they could find us. They also said that the angels had told them that our baby was the Messiah. Out of control. After the shepherds had sat and admired our baby they left and went back into town telling everybody about our kid. I couldn’t imagine what kind of things people were going to think about us in the days to come.

Neither I nor Mary will ever forget the events of that night. I also doubt that any of us will forget what happened a week later when we went to consecrate Jesus at the temple. I’m not going to explain it in detail, but picture two other, older “charismatics” somehow rejoicing the moment we walked in with Jesus. So crazy. Oh, and I use quotes when I say charismatic because it wasn’t like Mary, myself, or these elderly people were weirdo’s or anything, but people probably thought we were.

So thus ended the craziest year of my life; the year that literally changed everything. I still cannot wrap my mind around the whole thing, but the more I write about it the closer I get (I think). So crazy. It really is.

Christmas Through Their Eyes: Justus the Shepherd

Justus, the shepherd, to Joshua, my beloved uncle.

Go ahead and sit down. You’re not going to believe this.

Well it’s been two weeks now since the night everything changed. That’s what I’ve been calling it. I can’t think of a better way to describe it. I mean, that night… well, I guess everything didn’t change. I’m still just a shepherd and all, but that’s fine. The way I view this life changed that night though. Who would say that isn’t a big thing?

It was just a normal winter night, ya know? It was cold, it was late, me and the boys were starting to wrap up our nightly joking around and all the normal stuff when… seriously, you’re not going to believe this… I promise, I’m not making this up. I’m not smart enough to… Joshua, it got bright! I mean, brighter than day-time bright. An ANGEL showed up out there in our field’s sky. Man, I’m not kidding, it was absolutely terrifying. I’ve never been close to being that scared. You would have been too! But just as me and the boys were finishing up screaming and cursing out of fear, that angel said, (I’ll never forget it):

“Do not be afraid.” (Yeah right… too late).

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” (For all the people? Then why aren’t you telling all the people? Do you realize we’re just shepherds? What do you mean for all the people?).

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (WHAT?? The Christ? The Messiah? You decided to tell US about the Messiah? We’re shepherds! The Messiah was born today and we’re going to find him in a stable?? Really?)

So that’s what the angel said, and those are the thoughts that were going through my still kinda freaked out mind when he was saying them. I mean, you couldn’t deny that there was an angel of the Lord up there. The same Lord who’s never spoken to the likes of us… or anyone else in hundreds of years as far as I know. It went against all logic and common sense, but we all knew it to be true.

Well then, as if the one angel and the really bright sky in the middle of the night weren’t enough, I mean, just when that angel was done saying those things, right after he was done, a TON of angels showed up in the already bright sky. If they’d showed up like that at first, I’m serious, I would have died. Literally. Anyway, they showed up and they were all just rejoicing and praising Yahweh saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” And at that point, though I was still very overwhelmed by all that had just taken place in the past 15 minutes, I did feel a great sense of peace. It’s hard to explain.

Well then the night sky went back to how it’s supposed to be: dark. After about 3 minutes of all us boys just standing there staring at the sky in silent awe, we decided to go into Bethlehem town and see this unbelievable event of which we were just told. So we ran, oh man, we were moving, in to town. I felt bad because we were being pretty loud (you’d have been loud too after all that) as we made our way to the manger that the angel told us about. We had a pretty good idea of the particular stable that this baby would be in, and we were right. When we turned the corner and saw that scene: the dad with his arm around his wife who was holding the baby, who, like the angel had said, was wrapped in cloth; all of them were standing on the blood-covered ground… I cannot describe how that moment felt. Like I said, we believed what that angel said was true (who wouldn’t?) but man… tangibly seeing exactly what we’d been told… I know it’s weird to say but I felt close to Yahweh at that moment.

We told the parents (they were named Joseph and Mary) all about how we’d ended up there. We stayed there for a while and marveled at the baby Messiah (his name is Jesus! The parents told us that angels had talked to them too, and the angel told them to name him that!). After we stood and worshiped Yah for that baby, we went back out through town and started telling everybody what we’d been told and what we’d seen that night. Man, those people weren’t very happy to be woken up, but when we told them our story, every one of them was amazed. How could you not be?

Uncle Joshua, I hope you don’t think I’ve lost my mind. I swear every word of this story is true. I hope you live long enough to see the stuff that this Messiah is going to do! Jerusalem is going to be restored! I got to see our King as a baby! I’m still excited about it. I got to see King Jesus on the day he was born! I still can’t get over the fact that Yah decided to send his angels to us. Not to mention that the Messiah was born in Bethlehem… there’s lots about the whole thing I don’t get, but I cannot help but believing. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on all this.

Send Sarah greetings.

Justus

Christmas Through Their Eyes: Mattias the Innkeeper

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I’ve written a few narratives telling the Christmas story through the eyes of its characters. This is my first attempt at creative writing in a long time, so please, be gracious. That’s all.

I normally would not write a journal entry in the earliest of morning hours, but tonight has been… how do I even describe it? It’s been weird for certain, it’s been inconvenient (see my being awake at this hour), but part of me thinks something about this night is so significant. Well not the night in itself, but the events that have taken place tonight. Man. I’m so scatterbrained. This entry will probably make little sense, but I just have to write for fear of forgetting anything.

Ok. Man. Well I guess the craziness started when I rented out my final room here at the inn. I have Caesar to thank for the boost in customers this month with the census he decreed and all. Unfortunately, once the last room had been rented, the people didn’t stop coming. I had to turn down a fair amount of people from sun-down to past midnight. One of the last couples I turned down is the very reason I’m still awake. I don’t remember their names… the man looked familiar… but his wife was pregnant. Very pregnant. I felt bad that I had no place for them to stay, but there was nothing I could do.

So I fell asleep for what should have been the remainder of the night, but a few hours later (just a little while ago) I heard a group of men bustling down the street outside, talking loudly to one another. I went to the door to see what was happening, fearing that there was a fight or something. By the time I made it to the door though, I only saw the men’s backs; they were heading to the stable down the road. I recognized that the men were shepherds by their clothes, so I figured they were going to the stable to stay. Not the case.

In just over an hour after they first came by to wake the neighborhood up they came back through only this time they were much, much louder. They were knocking on people’s doors (mine included) telling the story of how they’d ended up here tonight. Something about an angel who talked to them out in their fields and told them that a lady was going to have a baby (which is probably true, because that one lady looked like she could have her baby any moment). Well as if the thought of angels coming to tell shepherds ANYTHING isn’t absurd enough, these guys were saying that this woman’s baby was the Messiah… I was amazed. Shortly after they finished telling me and the rest of the street about what had happened, they went on into town doing the same thing. Telling people what they’d seen. I don’t know what to think about all this right now. I’m exhausted. I’ll process all of this more in the morning (it already is morning)… I’ve got to sleep now.