The Changing Seasons

It has been a pretty crazy summer. Natalia and I, with lots of help from her parents, gave the front house a bit of a reset. We cleaned, painted, and installed some new flooring. I wouldn't call it a renovation but it did help freshen things up a bit.

At the beginning of August we decided to rent the front to a group of young girls that were looking for a place to start a community. They are still hoping to find a place of their own but we all thought staying in the Lake House would give them time to find the right place as well as give them a chance to develop a bit as a community. Natalia and I are still doing our best to focus on our marriage and we are glad to be neighbors, occasionally sharing from our experience with this budding community.

Life has brought so many changes lately that sometimes its hard to take it all in. I really miss all the guys and the amazing life they were living here. I still see most of them quite often but it has just been sad to see their time in the house have to end. I am still grieving it.

We always used to say that it was the values that were consistent even when the people change. We had seen our share of individuals come and go and really learned the reality and importance of those stable values which defined our lifestyle. With the transition from those tough and tried dudes to a fairly green group of young ladies it has been hard for me, I feel the loss of the people AND the changes of lifestyle. I have felt the instability at times with the differences but I have also been quite comforted by the familiar and precious efforts at hospitality. Just this week I met a women who had nowhere to go and was really just looking for somewhere to get a few nights reprieve from the streets. In the past I never knew where to turn when I met women in her situation because there are just so few options. When the house was full of men we only hosted men and we always dreamed of and prayed for a sister community that could show hospitality to the women that we met. I have a few female friends that I have called in the past but there was nowhere like our house where a community was postured to receive guests in need. Being that the house is full of women now I jumped at the opportunity to direct this woman to them. I was so glad to see them open the house to her and offer he a place to stay for a few nights. Though the girl's hospitality, prayer, generosity, and even eating from the yard I have found the familiar values which have been so reassuring.

Then of course some things never change! (As in Craziness)

• Natalia had to break up two girls that were fighting about heroin near the alley this week. She successfully broke it up and took one of them to McDonalds for a snack. 
• Another day she had to call an ambulance for a friend that took quite a bit too many pills and needed to be monitored. 
• I ran into and briefly caught up with a dude that broke into the house a couple years ago. 
• We have had a few friends get arrested. One, barely an adult, is potentially facing life. 
• Oh and my favorite moment was when a guy, who was living outside, came up to me and handed me a brand new tattoo machine as a gesture of thanks. He said it was an extra and insisted that I take it along with his words of gratitude. I obliged. (Its only the machine and now I need a power supply, needles and ink but I just gotta say I am SO EAGER to start running this thing.)  

We also started our house church meetings again every Wednesday at 7:30. We have only met a few times so far and it has been awesome to all be together again. There are big things in store! We are beginning the semester with the end in mind and setting goals to plant another house church by December. We are praying hard for guidance on where to have it. Suggestions? Anyway, the Fall season is already off and running. We hope you will join us and walk with us as we pursue Jesus in mission this season.

Tonight is the Conscious Party and we are excited to be together again and share with one another. I am expecting a pretty great turn out tonight and hope you can make it too! Please bring food if you can and as always, bring a friend. Our hope is to create a night out and a platform of expression for our neighbors that are on the streets and everyone else is welcome too!


Lets see....What else?....Oh I have really tried to start writing consistently this summer and have been posting regularly on my blog called Ultimate Concerns. Check it out and follow it if your interested in my ramblings.

Please pray:

• Pray for Natalia and I as we continue to work at our own recovery and marriage
• Pray for 'The Guys' that sacrificed so much for Natalia and I to have the space we needed. Pray that they would be comforted in the loss, convicted in their values, affirmed in their capabilities and strengthened for the work that is ahead of them. 
• Pray for these girls that are renting the house and striving to live an intentional life together as Christian sisters. 
• Pray for the Lake House home churches leadership development, future location and the coming church plant. 
• Pray for our family of ministries: The Well, the Good Sam, The Banquet, The Conscious Party, The Eden Project, Sacred Studios, Underground Counseling, and Chyna's efforts to establish 'Firm Believers'
• Pray for me as I begin trying to fund raise to further support and grow our work among the poor in Tampa. 
• Pray for the recently established Ybor Heights Neighborhood Association. We started it and are working to rally community involvement. There is a lot of potential here!
• Pray for grace & mercy for a young friend who may be facing life. 
• Pray that I can get a vehicle working soon!
• Pray for our Conscious Party tonight to have a great turn out and a ton of fun
• Pray above all else that His kingdom would come and His will be done here, on earth, in Tampa, in our hearts, as it is in heaven. 

Mama's Greens

I just thank God for our yard that produces greens and what Mama can do to them with a few ham hocks. Mmmm...

"Mama knows love like the back roads." -Anthony Hamilton

An Enchanted Weekend with Sekajipo & The Jungle

This weekend was rich. It began Friday night as almost all of our community went rock climbing with some friends. We just played and laughed and destroyed our bodies. Then Saturday we hosted an incredible Conscious Party with Sekajipo & The Jungle. It was also a blast to have him staying at the house all weekend with us. We really miss him so much!
Then Sunday morning I spoke at Underground's Crucible. I spoke on Mark 5:1-20 and the audio recording is below. Then on Sunday afternoon we had a few couch surfers come over to stay for a few days. Their names are Taylor and Steve and they are riding their bikes across the USA raising money for KIDS. Here is a link to their blog called Trailing The Sun. Sunday we had Sekajipo, Taylor, Steve and another Steve staying at the house. We were supposed to also have our friend Russ spending the night but after showing up and seeing how many people were over he decided to seek shelter elsewhere. We understand but we were also bummed that he didn't stay. It is such a joy to have a house full of people to love on.

Remembering Francis

Canticle of the Sun

Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,

All praise is yours: all glory, honor and blessings.

To you alone, Most High do they belong;

no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your Name.

We praise you, Lord, for all your creatures,

Especially for brother Sun,

Through whom you give us light.

He is beautiful, radiant with great splendor,

and in this he bears your likeness.

We praise you, Lord for sister Moon and the Stars.

In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

We praise you, Lord for brothers Wind and Air,

fair and stormy, and all weather's moods,

by which you cherish all that you have made.

We praise you, Lord for sister Water,

so useful, humble, precious and pure.

We praise you, Lord for brother Fire,

through whom you light the night.

He is beautiful, playful, robust and strong.

We praise you, Lord for sister Earth,

who sustains us with her fruits, colored flowers and herbs.

We praise you, Lord for those who pardon,

who for love of you bear sickness and trial.

Blessed are those who endure in peace;

they will be crowned by you, Most High.

We praise you, Lord for sister Death,

from whom no living person can escape.

Woe to those who die in their sins!

Blessed are those she finds doing your will.

No second death can do them harm.

We praise and bless you, Lord and give you thanks,

and serve you in all humility.

St. Francis of Assisi

From Philly

I'm remembering now why I love coming here.

I'm staying in one of the houses owned by the St. Francis Inn called Jean Donovan house. As you walk in through the narrow front door of this row house, the first sight is this drawing of lay worker Jean Donovan and the three Maryknoll nuns who were martyred with her in December of 1980.

During the Salvadoran civil war, they provided shelter, transport, food and buried those killed by the military death squads. Jean went to Bishop Romero's cathedral to hear him preach, and later to his funeral, eight months before her own death. She was engaged to a young physician, Douglas Cable, and felt a strong call to motherhood as well as her call to do mission work: "...I sit there and talk to God and say 'Why are you doing this to me? Why can't I just be your little suburban housewife?' He hasn't answered yet."

Weeks before being beaten, raped and killed by a government death squad, she wrote to her friend, “The Peace Corps left today and my heart sank low. The danger is extreme and they were right to leave... Now I must assess my own position, because I am not up for suicide. Several times I have decided to leave El Salvador. I almost could, except for the children, the poor, bruised victims of this insanity. Who would care for them? Whose heart could be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and loneliness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine.”

I love that the very building I'm sleeping in is a chilly, creaking old hymn to the love of God as expressed in the life of one of his servants. I love that sacrifice is part of the culture here. I love the friars, lay workers, sisters, priests and volunteers that live here for sharing these jewels of the faith with me. I love you, my people, so you'll forgive me if I can't help but share them with you.