I still intend to get a post together about last weekend’s festivities, but in the meantime, I have some random thoughts kicking around:
1. I’ve had two experiences recently in which I was effusively praised for something that made me go “Really? Doesn’t everyone do that?” The first was with the search committee of Tiny Church, […]

It’s a nice little suburb.

I’ll share more about this amazing final weekend at SPC another time, but check this out:

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.
If I were planning a service for an alternative/non-traditional worship audience I would SO use this as the opening of an Easter service of the resurrection…

looking to dye my hair for one and only one evening–ideas?
Leave it to Naveen Andrews to be the exception to my hypothesis that people have uniformly bad hair in their LOST flashbacks.
Dear Guitar Hero for the Wii: I’m glad my husband rocks, but I want him back. Sincerely, Me.
I hereby announce, on this National Punctuation […]

I got the sabbatical grant.

1. That Stamp Will Cost You $23,000, Pal—if health insurance companies ran the postal service.
2. J Discovers Language Is Useful, Part III: Monday was a beautiful day, and I was outside with M and J. I’d brought a book and some blankets out, and we lounged and played all morning. M had gone back inside […]

Reverse chronological:
“shana tova. may you be written in the book of life, in the ‘adventure’ section.” (from a blog I read)
home with an ambiguously sick C (no fever, sore throat and tummy), watching The Music Man. Cash for the noggins and the piggins and the frickins!
It’s a hammer of justice, it’s a bell of freedom, […]

I hear this from time to time, and I’m sure you do too, or maybe you even say it yourself—that America is the most generous nation on earth. I asked recently on facebook what people base this on, which sounds like it could be a snarky question but wasn’t—I really wanted to know. People responded […]

In reverse chronological
Ewan McGregor just popped up on the iTunes singing “Come What May.” Man, his performance in Moulin Rouge was masterful and totally fearless. He was ALL IN. Made that big manic ball of cheese surprisingly touching. Love me some Ewan.
Just had to listen to this song again. It could have been […]

So as many of you know, back in May I was working on a grant proposal to take a sabbatical in summer 2010. The grant assumed staying at SPC, of course. (Boy, there’s a part of me that had a really hard time walking away from that! It was hard enough to think about leaving […]

This blog is nothing if not a place to put my larks and obsessions. Here’s my latest:
I am addicted to the WaPo Travel section, and especially enjoy their annual photo contest, the 2009 results of which are here.
I was drawn to two things: one, the winning picture was by a 16-year-old, whose parents take her […]

Reverse chronological
M pronounces it “oitmeal”.
The most powerful things an individual American can do to fight terrorism are to travel a lot, learn about the world, come home with a new perspective, and then work to help our country fit more comfortably and less fearfully into this planet. -travel writer Rick Steves, in Travel as […]

R asked last night, “So how many parts of the story are there?” I think there’s just one more piece I want to share, as I reflect upon how this transition has come to pass. Call it the end of the beginning.
Before I get to the substance of the post, I did want to record […]

So there’s all the head stuff when discerning a call—matching up pastoral gifts with the church’s needs, analyzing, vetting, and so forth. The head stuff is connected to intuitive stuff, too—whether something just feels right. It’s nice when head and gut are on the same page.
The heart stuff is a whole other thing.
I submitted my […]

A few days after my “thanks but no thanks” letter to Presbyterian Mecca Church, it came to my attention that Tiny Church’s profile was up in the denomination’s database. (Think Match.com for clergy and churches.)
I knew a little bit about this congregation. Their previous pastor had retired a couple of years back after almost […]