raspberries

fresh raspberries make summer not so bad.

birdseed salad

Salad

• 1 lg head of cabbage, chopped
• 2 c frozen peas
• 6-8 green onions, sliced
• 2 pkg oriental flavor ramen noodles, broken into bite size pieces
• 1/2 c sliced almonds, toasted
• 1/2 c cashew pieces, toasted
• 1/2 c sunflower seeds
• 1/8 c toasted sesame seeds

Dressing

• 1 c olive oil
• 1/2 c apple cider vinegar
• 2 pkg oriental seasoning (from noodles)
• 4 tsp white sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

transatlanticism

"the atlantic was born today and i'll tell you how:
the clouds above opened up and let it out.

I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
when the water filled every hole.
and thousands upon thousands made an ocean,
making islands where no island should go.
oh no.

those people were overjoyed; they took to their boats.
I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat.
the rhythm of my footsteps crossing flood lands to your door have been silenced forever more.
the distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
it seems farther than ever before
oh no.

I need you so much closer"

she said yes

While roommate 1 was stranded in the south, at long last - roommate 2 got engaged last night! Actually, depends what perspective you have on "at long last". They have been dating for 2 months and 8 days. But I know that she has been waiting for this for awhile and sometimes when you are waiting the anticipation feels like it will never come. Especially when your fiancé takes you out on the beach and gets down on one knee and says "I have something for you" and then hands you a seashell. No more of that for her - it's here!

cabin fever

It's been almost 2 weeks since I've been home from vacation and since I have lived with another human being. The other 6 ladies that live in my house with me are all gone for the summer or for vacation. We all split shortly after this photo was taken at our friend's wedding.

One of my roommates, who was supposed to come back on Wednesday, was not allowed to come home. She had bought a round trip ticket to the South. Then our college pastor asked her to drive the bus of students down from our college ministry to their summer project, which she was going to visit (she works for the ministry). She agreed to forego the first leg of the trip. She logically then thought that she could just hop on the plane for the leg home, after driving them down and two weeks with the students on the beach. The Lord had other plans because apparently you cannot get on the second leg of the trip if you missed the first one. Does anyone know why this is?

I'm sitting on my computer now, wondering why the Lord kept her there for longer at the beach, and why she had to buy a new ticket, and why or to what end I am sitting here for another weekend alone, trying to work out solitude and time by myself. Of course we are all doing better than we deserve here... no complaints... just starting to feel cabin fever and missing my dear roommates.

Last night after a long walk, dinner, and Bible Study, I started watching my upstairs roommates' copy of Season 2 of The OC - this was a mistake. I feel all dirty now after watching rich, beautiful, beach town, sr high characters bemoan their difficult existences and figure out how to advance their romantic lives. Come on, people. Lord, have mercy. Don't laugh if you think that my roommates and I look like The OC because I am making fun of it. Okay, actually, laugh.

the well is full

Jerry Sittser reports having finished work on his book, Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries (IVP). A small team of alumni and I began research for him on this book 6 summers ago, and it was one of the richest theological summers of my life. This will be better than a banquet when it is published. I am greatly looking forward to reading what he has compiled and spoken into.

i see the sign

Today at work I received a sign. I think that I am supposed to be here. I did not take this photo but someone sent it especially for me and it reminded me of God's promises and challenged me to love because I am freed by the security of His promises. It made me want to see this valley through in my life and see the Spirit move in my life even when it is hard.

Yesterday we had a staff day at the park. In the morning we got to hear our pastor talk about Ephesians 4:32 - 5:1 "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

This has always been a hard passage for me to know in the depths of my heart. We have been given a great love and we are called to spend time with a few others, show sacrifice and love to them, touch each others' hearts (go to the 3rd floor or attic, not just stay on the 1st floor in all our conversations). Love takes time. We must know that we are beloved when we enter into this with others and we must remind each other of this when we are together. We are commanded to be (splunknoy - lit. good intestines, guts) tenderhearted with each other. Why is this so difficult when we long for these interactions so deeply? It takes time and sacrifice to stop one another and go to the heart. We would rather talk about the weather or just get our work done or please ourselves or hide our faults or be safe or whatever. We would rather eat at our desk or not get overwhelmed with another burden or appointment or thing on the to do list. If we would but yield to love, step out in that direction, the reward is great...

carpet bowling

Deeper Thoughts, by Jack Handey

I think a new, different kind of bowling should be "carpet bowling." It's just like regular bowling, only the lanes are carpet instead of wood. I don't know why we should do this, but my gosh, we've got to try something!

summer mag release

This weekend we released the summer magazine, which I worked on for the month before I left on my vacation. I spent over 50 hours on this project just the week before going to Cali and it was in some sense a rite of passage from just playing around on InDesign with a weekly newsletter to creating something beautiful, that people feel privileged to receive. I'm not trying to toot my own horn (too much), but I want to express the deep joy I had in communicating something that was in my mind, crystal clear, so that thousands of people will understand.

I celebrate that we are made in God's image, and that He, the ultimate Creator, saw fit to make us, who were once just part of his imagination, and also to send his Son, (who must have been such a joy to unveil and release to the world), so that we might be like Him and that we might understand and worship the One who is glorious. Divine communication is a glorious thing.

I have been cruising through Colossians this summer (people, this is the book to read this summer) and the part that always goes straight to the center of my heart is reading about the great unveiling of Christ at just the right time. In Colossians 1, Paul says that he became a minister of the Gospel "to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints (that's us! his people). To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." - The glory of God's mystery is Christ! God kept and released his plan that these riches would be for the Gentiles. He released His Word to communicate so that we could understand! It is amazing that He chose us for this age, after Christ has been revealed as the center of all time.

We are created in His image, as creators and communicators of the riches of His glory and also of each other's stories, and that we can make printed things that are beautiful to help people understand truth.

Through the process of creating this publication, I feel that I have become a real designer. God's grace sustained me on every side while I was working on it, my co-worker Anne helped me add professional touches and design advice, Pastor Sam gave me the vision, friends brought me dinner during the long nights of work, Joseph provided comic relief to keep me from getting too serious all those late hours at the computer. All this has happily yielded a new opportunity to express myself. I am thankful that we can worship through our gifts and giving things like this to the church. I will close with a generous e-mail written last night, after the Saturday service where they were passed out:

-----Original Message-----

Dear Erin,

Unbelievable booklet! Absolutely terrific. It is a model of clarity and understandability and helpfulness. It does exactly what it is supposed to do. I revelled in my announcements tonight because I felt the burden of making the summer understandable and attractive had been lifted from my shoulders. So I celebrated the booklet.

Thank you for the untold hours that must have gone into this booklet. It is a gem. You have so many gifts! I rejoice that God has led you to steward them at Bethlehem for his glory.

Pastor John

bill & karen's garden

I got lost walking through this garden on a hillside in Berkeley, and it wasn't just because I had just finished many days of driving over 1,800 miles over the beautiful golden state of California. This garden was a tribute to everything living, fresh, to every crisp edible vegetable, and to things which flourish under the wide expanse of sky and beside the trees and the sea, just what e.e. cummings writes about:

i thank you God for this most amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any--lifted from the no of all nothing--human merely being doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

san diego

If you're going to visit Pacific Beach in San Diego, you should check out the bar of Tower 23 for sushi... it is amazing. Also, visit The Cantina for a variety of dishes worth writing home about. So many good choices on the menu of both Latin and Asian tastes, it is difficult to choose, but there is nothing to lose if you can only choose a few things because it is all excellent. It's easy to see why so many of the patrons become regulars. I ate the most amazing crisp, sliced, fried plaintains with caviar and scallions, an appetizer I will never forget. Halibut with fresh green beans and coconut milk rice was to die for. Amazing service, fresh ingredients, colorful vegetables, brilliant combinations.

redondo beach

After an amazing breakfast at my uncle's house, I drove down to redondo beach and met miss gillian, my newest cousin. Pretty much little miss sunshine herself - no contest! At the 9 month doctor's check up, Janet learned that little Gilly Bean's head is in the 95th percentile for kids her age. We're telling you, Gilly, it's all brains, girl. Did you know that you can get sunscreen for kids in a little glue-stick-like roller? Fantastic... and water in the little town square fountain will entertain kids for hours. No, Tim-Tim, you can't ride your bike on the beach. Maybe it's the training wheels that are making the tires spin in the sand, but it just doesn't work as well as the sidewalk. Well Phooey. I had to leave too soon. We were just getting to know one another. Miss you, kiddos. See you next time.