Forgive me Father for I have sinned . . . its been 3 weeks since my last blog, I desire to turn from my sin and seek the good graces of my web community. (insert time here for my 6 recitals of The Lord's Prayer, 4 Hail Mary's (just for you Creech) and 1 jumbled rendition of the Apostle's Creed as far as I remember from my catholic school ubringing). Now my penance is complete and I can return to bloghood free and clean of my stained past. Redemption is oh so sweet.

Since I left you last I spent a week in Florida moving my Alzheimer's grandmother out of her home in Florida to an assisted living apartment here in Cincy. I attempted the move with my parents and it was at times a nightmare. My grandmother has always been a control freak and high achieving leader type and we butted heads all week. She lost everything and can't remember a thing but wants total control of all things. If this is where I'm heading 50 years from now, somebody shoot me first and when we get to heaven we'll all laugh about it :) The moving truck I drove back to Cincy was brand new but needed structural repairs that Penske never quite figured out. I couldn't keep the truck on the highway because of a disconnect with the sway-bar which made for white knuckle driving. What should have been a 16 hour trip took 2 1/2 days. The only good part was staying overnight in Atlanta and hitting the Buckhead district. Very cool nightspot and had dinner at one of the best Irish Pubs I've visited, great food and properly poured Guiness :) She is now moved in and starting to settle into a routine with some structure. The fog has lifted, her and I are on good terms now and life is settled down. This was a way more high stress event than I anticipated which accounted for some of the blogless activity.

There is so much good stuff going on that I want to rave about that will be coming in the next few days. Thanks for your patience and in the words of the most honorable George Costanza from Seinfeld, "I'm Back Baby!!"

peace,
Chris

checking this new blogger deal, check one, check two . . .

Had 2 great bbq's at my home this weekend, life is good and so are my friends. Fight Club members and their families were over on Saturday (Rains, Johnsons, Allis, Moutz) and that is always a great time. Being with those guys makes me feel so much less isolated in this transitional time of culture doing the missional community gig. Fight Club is becoming a primary source of spiritual growth for me. Ordinary Community was over on Sunday for a gathering and because of some external circumstances, we got pretty "real". We had an in depth discussion on Authenticity, Accountability, Community and mission. We talked of trying to be more intentional in our accountability cuz we've been together long enough as a community now that all of our dirty laundry is out on the table and we feel vulnerable with one another, no more pretense. At the same time, intimate relationships are based on trust and do we feel safe with all of our stuff out there with the larger community? Or do we need another layer of community that is smaller (smaller than a house church??) in which we feel safe being that vulnerable? Our conclusion = who knows? We're never gonna figure this out completely. But the process of journeying together closer and closer to the heart of God is messy and challenging. What we do know, is that Christ-following is a community event. Isolation sucks. I've been floored this week by these words from Henri Nouwen, "In the Name of Jesus" . . .
"more and more people are suffering from profound moral and spiritual handicaps without having any idea of where to look for healing. It is here that the need for a new Christian leadership becomes clear. The leaders of the future will be those who dare to claim their irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows them to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success, and to bring the light of Jesus there."

peace,
Chris