At the Wall Declaration

There's been a lot going on, about which I really can't go into detail, but I think it's important that Evan and I share this as a first step towards accountability with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
What I can say is that we like where we are -- Ohio. The Midwest suits me fine, and Evan's ok with it, except for allergies. We LOVE our house, which I think is rare in pastoral ministry. It's not extravagant, but it is an absolutely beautiful old house that has pretty much everything we want, little that we don't want, and just enough room for the future. Evan has also benefited immensely from his time at UTS. It has been the medicine he has needed at several critical points.
That said, the suburban lifestyle that we have had to adapt to here has been a struggle. I don't think this is particular to Ohio, but it is very different from the urbanized or the rural cultures of our previous churches. It is subversive and deceptive, particularly when it comes to living a Christian life, and I think both Evan and I have been at some loss in how to live the way we feel we have been called and continue to minister to people with such different values and priorities.
I don't say that demeaning or arrogantly. But this has been our growing observation, even as we continue to deepen our relationships with the people we've met here.
However, we've hit a wall. And we've both needed a new measure of grace to know whether to climb over, dig under or build a door. Thankfully, God has placed a few people in our lives that have given us encouragement to keep going, even if they have not told us what we need to do. They have also challenged us.
And to that end, we have made a decision to begin truly living by the priorities and convictions of our calling. And we will live with the consequences of them. We have concluded that if we do not reclaim some of these things, we will not survive.

Therefore, we declare:

1. Sabbath will be observed in our household.
2. Further simplification of our necessities and our luxuries so that we may give more to others in the local and global community.
3. The Christian calendar will be our mark for time.
4. Greater focus on our educational and professional goals as they support our call serve the Church.
5. Our practice of specific behaviors (ie. detachment, lectio divina, OSL, etc.) that will allow us to continue in our vocational ministry.

These are five broad declarations that have many specifics already attached to them. Those are things that probably don't require posting on a blog site. But I just wanted to let you know, that we may be saying "No," to somethings now, and "Yes," to some other things that we would not have not too long ago.
I hope that you will pray for us as we begin to reorient our life toward this recovered vision our life in Christ.

Day 2. A Long Walk to Nowhere

Sorry, not many pics today.

We thought we would go over to the Westside Market today, so we walked over a bridge with a highway and huge trucks barrelling past us.

We got over there. Found the market. It's closed. I was kind of irritated. So we're going to try again tomorrow.

3.5 miles - ok, I'm tired and I think my head got burnt some more.

So I worked on finishing my curriculum stuff the rest of the afternoon. Evan went geocaching for awhile.

We went to an Irish pub a couple blocks away for dinner. Evan had shepherd's pie and I had fish and chips. Very good. We sat and read for awhile. Evan read Ullyses, of course.

Tomorrow, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (hopefully with Paul and Tiffany), Westside Market, and a Rejuvinating Hand Treatment at the Spa downstairs. I've never had a manicure so we'll see.

Cleveland Day 1

Progressive field is only 4-5 blocks away.
We get to our seats and it is FREEZING because we're in the shade the entire time. It was a school day - so we had these hordes of kids in our section getting up and down the entire time. We moved down with the people behind us for awhile to sit in the sun where some lady asked us to move because the kids with her were supposed to be coming. I said, "Ok," and smiled. I would get up when they actually got there. The lady next to me totally gave her dirty looks and we started talking. If they can't sit in their seats and watch the game then surely I can keep warm for a little while.
Here we are finally in the sun. The kids still wouldn't sit down but we were warm.
The Indians lost 6 to 5. Oh well, it was still fun. And after all that we ended up with sunburns!
On the way back to the hotel, we went geocaching in an old cemetery. We found two different caches in there, and I always like visiting old graveyards like this.

Tuesday in Cleveland Ohio

"Who is this Utta?" from Urban Legends, BIO channel

Well, we made it to Cleveland and it is cold!  We're staying at the Hyatt Regency downtown.  It is about a mile from Jacob's (Progressive) Field, and a part of the Arcade.  The Cleveland Public Library appears to be right across the street. We're going to check that out before we leave.

Right now we're sitting in bed, both on our Facebook pages playing the dot game. Chatting.  Watching Urban Legends on some channel I've never heard of. 

We stopped outside Columbus at a weird little Max&Erma's.  It was this strange 70's Gobbler-esque building with a roof that covered about 3/4 of the building.  We got their pretzel stick appetizers, which were really good.  Then we got the fresh chocolate chip cookies before we left.  As you may know, Evan does not eat dessert, but he has a weakness for chocolate chip cookies.  Mmmm. . . 

We bought some T-shirts for the game tomorrow but as cold and windy as it was tonight, I'm afraid we're going to be freezing.  We'll take some pics tomorrow.  Until then . . .