While on a plane from Orlando to Baltimore...

The cabin lights are glowing a warm ambiance throughout our crowded seating area. There is a roar from the engines and a peppering of whizzing air rushing from the air vents among the rows. We gently rock through the clouds as a world hustles below.

There is a father and son next to me. This dad appears to be a good dad, I’ve seen him patiently read every description of “new and amazing” items from the “airmall” sales catalog located behind our seat. I’ve witnessed him pour apple juice, open pretzels, and after tiny eyes finally tired tuck his son in his arms and let him sleep. He now reads with one hand as the other securely holds his little boy in his slumber. I picture him as a good dad.

I’ve been thinking a lot more about having kids lately. My best friend’s daughter is now over a year old, the friends we just visited in Florida have an adorable little boy, and I only imagine the joy and stress on the day Pearl and I have our own little clan to love on.

I wonder what kind of dad I’ll be. I wonder what good lessons I’ll teach them, and at the same time how badly I’ll screw them up. I wonder if they’ll look back on me as a loving caring gracious father, or a dad who was impossible to gauge, never knowing if I was happy go lucky or if I was in a serious life’s happening mood.

I hope they have a dad that reflects God in a good way, I hope they have a dad they love to tell stories with, a dad they want their friends to meet, a dad they feel like they can tell anything to and not fear death.

Pearl and I’ve found ourselves lately asking our “parent friends” if they could have their kids fall in love with anything what would it be.

Most say God, Jesus, faith.

They then add, sports, arts, learning, and some then go on to say exactly what sports and arts; basketball, soccer, painting, piano, etc etc

The more I think about this, I think I want my kids to get faith, God and what religion is all about, but then beyond that to simply love people. To see people not as obstacles or challenges, but as hearts and souls and hurts and stories and beauty and little reflections of God with nuggets of love, truth and something beautiful inside walking around on two legs. And that they work to call the good out of man, to reveal the good, beauty, truth and image of God that’s resting and covered up in everyone.

But that’s easier to say that now while I’m not changing a diaper at 3 am, or listening to the 4^th straight hour of crying, or having to figure out how to parent through puberty.

So to all those who are still reading this blog and have kids how would you answer that? What do you want your kids to fall in love with?

But don’t stop there… Tell me what it’s like to be a parent, to love someone so small and depend, tell me what mistakes to avoid and what habits to start.

Give me your advice.

But, just so you don’t start thinking anything funny Pearl and I are not planning on starting our family anytime soon. We’re hoping to finish grad school, face whatever adjustments come next and then start, but God could be chuckling up in heaven listening to me declare our plans.

Ps. I’m posting this the morning after flying in from Florida. Here’s what we landed in. It was 83 degrees in Florida and 12 this morning in Lancaster. SICK! At least the snow was only in Baltimore and the roads home were good.

Baggage claims, evil eyes, and a gracious touch

It’s the Saturday afternoon of a wonderfully delightful week. A week that was full of lingering days by a hotel pool, frequent coffee shop runs, nice dinners, and two wonderful nights spent with dear old friends at their homes catching up on the last five years of life. It’s truly been a great week.

Like one long wonderful date with my wife, my wife that I love so very much.

But we’re both tired, ready for some form of normal life, and the reality of returning to work tomorrow and that in just a couple of short hours a plane will move us from a soul warming ocean breeze of 83 degrees to a bone chilling 18 has us both in a… well, what’s the best word… ahhhh, well we’re both edgy. Yeah, edgy is a good word.

We’re still having fun together, loving simply being on an adventure together, yet as I just saw I’m able to go from “hey-life’s-good-and-I-love-you-so-much” to “I-just-gave-you-mean-set-of-eyes-that-communicate-I’m-one-hateful-son-of-a-gun” in about .23 seconds.

It happened like this, we’re checking bags, she wanted it one way, I wanted it another. I didn’t back down, she didn’t back down. I wanted to be in control, she wanted to be in control and poof a perfect storm happened that turned this simple and silly act of checking bags into world war III. Now, if you’re not married you’re probably asking “what’s his problem, it’s just checking bags, just let her do it her way” and if you’re married you’re reading this and nodding your head saying “heck yeah, I totally know that moment, but mine was over the milk, or the dog, or who would put the instant biscuits in the fridge.”

I love my wife, I really really do, but as we approach our fifth anniversary I’m reminded that marriage is a daily commitment, a commitment that is lived out at the baggage counter, the dog bowl, next to the sink full of dirty dishes. A commitment that I took and that I vowed to forever die to myself, to put my wife first, to be willing to see the best for us over myself, and to seek love over control and self.

So God, thank you for the baggage counter moments that remind us of the commitment of marriage. Thank you that my wife has the gentlest touch that so graciously reminds me I’m not living and loving as I desire to, as she deserves, or that you created me for. Thank you that marriage is a wild adventure of two worlds crashing into one. And thank you that it is Pearl and I against life and not against each other.

May grace win, may love shine through, and may we each have baggage claim moments that remind us to live beyond the ruts of our existence.

Pearl, I love you and thank you for your graciousness. Well, it’ s now almost time to board. Let’s grab something to eat and then fly north to our frozen home in Pa.

sitting at a Starbucks in Orlando, oops... now a Starbucks in Palm Beach

So it’s officially a Wednesday. Don’t know why I thought I’d start by saying that but that’s what came to mind, it’s Wednesday, and I’m still trying to make sense of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Make sense of them in a good kind of way, not in a I can’t remember cause I did something stupid kind of way. (well, it’s now Friday and I’m still working on writing this thing, ha ha, thus why I’m now at a starbucks in Palm Beach)

This weekend was Avalanche, which for those of you who are not a part of LCBC, Avalanche is the winter retreat for 7^th and 8^th graders. So this past Friday Pearl and I drove about 2 hours to meet up with about 135 caffeinated students and adults ready to eat, play, climb, sing, and reflect the weekend away.

I was asked to come and be the speaker for these students, which is an invitation that I take as a high honor. I remember when I was in middle school and our small youth group drove to the “massive church in Atlanta” for a student thing and after the band played music that I actually like and then a guy stood up and told stories that made me laugh and in the mix of it talked about God in a way that made sense I have always wanted to be that guy. Not particularly the one on stage, my pride is much too dangerous for me to pursue that, but the one who tells stories and in the mix of a conversation filled with humor, emotion, and “dirty ol real life” mix in God and who he is, what’s he’s doing in this world and how he interescts our lives in such a way to not make us “freaks of society” but that makes life make sense. That reveals how God is all around us and not as far away as we might often feel.

So this weekend, I had the great honor to be that Guy. This was not my first time being with these students, nor speaking in this manner, but by my nerves on Friday afternoon I don’t know if you could have told other wise. I think the weight and responsibility of doing what I was doing just sat on my chest like a big old elephant.

This weekend we walked through the Lord's prayer, we tried to capture the heart of what Jesus was saying to his rag tag band of followers and what it might look like for today. We explored the significance of a Jewish prayer shawl and the beautiful symbolism and ritual woven into it.

This weekend we said the Lord’s Prayer, many times, but we used the language not of a first century Rabbi but of a 21^st century Middle schooler who is trying to figure out how to follow in the ways of these teachings and this mysterious and divine man named Jesus.

Jesus said:

Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven. Give us our food for today, and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us. And don't let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

So We said:

Our God is close like a good father, even when it doesn’t feel like it

Our God is fixing this world, and invites us to join Him in making it right

Our God has given us just enough for today,

Our God loves forgiveness, so I should as well

Our God protects us, and He uses me to protect my friends

It was truly a great weekend. It was humbling to see young hearts wrestle through the pain they have already experienced at the hands of pathetic earthly dads. To try and push aside the tidal waves of lies and marketing that shout how they’re not enough in so many ridiculous ways, but ways that have a knack for scaring one’s being for the rest of their life. To see them begin to grasp that every relationship in life has to be built around grace and forgiveness, and that if not, every relationship will only be messed up and full of pain, forgiveness is a must, no exceptions. And finally to see tiny arms link up to form safe little circles where words were spoken that remind their neighbors of how they are enough, how their God is close and never abandons, of how God invites them into something bigger then ipods, video games, and teenage crushes, of how they can accept forgiveness and in so doing give forgiveness, and how they want to be a voice that reminds them of these truths weeks and months from now when it’s so easy to have forgot how Jesus had taught us to pray.

It was a great great moment for me. I cried when it was all done, the big tears that mark your shirt and make your nose run, but they were good tears. Tears that come form a place of joy, of humility that God invites me, a messed up kid from Georgia with so much junk of my own, to be a part of what he’s doing in the lives of these students, and a place of hope at seeing what these students are capable of, of how they will change this world they are inheriting.

So to finish this really long post, I’ll offer a different perspective on the weekend. Here’s a link to one of the student’s response to the weekend.

And here’s a some of my favorite images from the weekend. They are by Ben Bennett (one of the amazing adults who gave up their weekend to love others), Cheyne Thomas (a 8^th grader who’s quickly making herself known as a gifted little photographer), and myself, but just a heads up, the really good ones, they took.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

hello old friend...

As you can tell the blog has been a little neglected these last few weeks. Janurary is a surprisingly busy month for us. We’ve had exciting developments at Pearl St. Photography, we’ve actually merged our studio with Jeremy Hess Photographers. This means wonderful things for everyone. Clients will gain the access to the amazing equipment and staff that Jeremy has invested in as a part of his studio, Jeremy will hopefully be better for having Pearl and I on his team, and my personal skills will be refined and tuned under the investment of one of the best wedding photographers in the Central Pa area. We’re super excited about this. Jeremy and I did a quick into video yesterday at the studio to introduce Pearl and I. Here’s the link. Also here’s his blog and website.

But that’s not all that has made January a busy month. Pearl and I started our next round of Grad school classes. We’re both working on a Masters of Divinity degree at Biblical Seminary. It’s an amazing degree that I feel like is pushing us to really wrestle with what faith looks like in today’s culture as well as what we really believe. It’s a stressful delight that highlights our week. This class marks the half way point, only another year and a half. Seriously this is one of the best programs I’ve ever heard of if you’re interested in exploring faith and leadership in a postmodern 21^st century context.

But even that’s not all that’s keeping us busy. As some of you know Pearl and I once worked at LCBC and at the start of January I returned to their staff to help in an interium part time position they needed filled. The winter months are my slower months and with LCBC having a need and me being able to step back in it has been a delight to do so. Being back at the church really does stir something in my soul. I love being a part of the creative teams and wrestling through how you influcnce middle schoolers towards a better way of life, a life that is rooted in more then ipods, Hannah Montana, and some weird vampire movie series.

This weekend I have the extreme honor of teaching at Avalanche, which is LCBC’s Middle school winter retreat. This is truly a highlight of my year and although everyone leaves physically exhausted, their heart leaves to a delightful happy beat.

So as you think of it, please pray for this up coming weekend. As we take about 150 seventh and eighth graders plus some adventureous adults away to discover a little emore about ourselves and a God that intensely loves us.

This morning I was reflecting on the first session.

On how we’re telling kids that “our God is close”

It’s a comforting saying, yet a hard saying. A saying that the Bible says is true yet that our world often says is not.

I think of Haiti, I see God beling close yet at the same time far. I think my ears may start to bleed from the gears turning before this weekend’s up.