A New Approach

For all of you who have been praying for Mindy and me over the past few months, we really want you to know how much we have felt God's love and your encouragement. We are doing great, life continues to unfold in some fantastic, challenging, crazy, beautiful ways, and we are still here in LA trying to be a light in a sea of darkness.

We arrived in LA almost a year ago, and honestly, it's taken us a year just to acclimate to the cultural climate out here. Life is so different than it was in Texas. Not only is everything faster and louder and busier, but the culture is so diverse and chaotic that we're just now starting to feel like we have managed to scratch the surface. I went to a park the other day and counted over 30 different groups of people, each with their own culture.

Needless to say, I can spend all day telling you about Los Angeles life but in the end I guess it's like most places. You really need to live out here and experience it before you can truly get a feel for it.

But even in the midst of the chaos, our hearts continue to pound for the people here. We've met some incredible people who have become like family to us, who love Jesus and are truly giving their lives away for Him. We've met other people who are so far from God that it breaks our hearts. So many of them are desperately trying to navigate their way through this spiritual wasteland and it's sad to meet so many people who are completely lost.

The other day Mindy and I had a conversation about whether it was time for us to leave LA and look for jobs somewhere else. With all that's happened, we are leaving the option open. But in the end we both realized how much we are drawn to this place, to these people, and we really couldn't imagine leaving right now.

So we're going to stay as long as God lets us.

Not because it's beautiful here.

Not because it's just a fun place to live.

Not because we want to be famous, or rich, or powerful.


We're staying because God is alive and at work and changing our lives and the lives of the people we've linked arms with. I hope you're finding the same passion in whatever sphere you're running in right now. I can't tell you how excited we are about the future, even if that future looks completely different than we thought it would. We feel closer to God than ever before, and surely there is no greater life than the life lived in His presence!

Okay, enough sermon.

I'm going to create another blog to try to start some discussions on a few of the issues we're dealing with the most, whether cultural, biblical, theological, or all three. We'll probably also start a MySpace page at some point for those of you who like MySpace. Check out the "First Theology" blog to get a feel for what I'd like to do with the other blog. I think Josh is a great synthesizer of ideas and one of the more brilliant young theologians I know. I'd like to focus mainly on discipleship/spiritual formation issues since that's what we deal with constantly in a city where people couldn't care less about whether something makes sense, and are simply looking for something that works. That's why our lives are our number one apologetical tool in a postmodern world.

So stay tuned, and please keep praying for us.


And finally, just because I can, check out our friggin' nieces. Awesome.