New Home for PP
Hi friends!
Public pixel’s creator will be journaling and sharing over at danerin.com
Thanks for the good times over the past few years! Mmm.
September 15, 2007
I’m trying to take one day per month to rest and meditate. The good book says it should be once a week.
The other day I went to up Mt Angel Abbey to rest and think and meditate. I wandered around mumbling hellos to hooded Benedictine students – before finding an old graveyard. In it were the usual markers – and then I found several very simple concrete crosses without names.
I laid in the grass, six feet above rotting corpses, and thought about these people. Serving their whole lives in a monastery, then finding a home in an unmarked grave. Humility. Service. Love. Eternal Rest.
I realize the faster I am traveling, the longer it takes for my mind to spin down. I had trouble clearing my thoughts over the course of 7 hours. Excitement! Action! Progress! Sustainability!
And what is the message of the green grave and the rotting cross?
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August 19, 2007
Erin and I shared a sunny drive up the Columbia for her 25th birthday. We went on a boat ride down the river for a couple of hours and a picnic in the park.
My brother Phil just got engaged to the beautiful Rea Fortes! The wedding should be next summer – the happy couple are headed out tomorrow morning to Houghton college again.
Speaking of engagements, Mike Sandford got engaged to the lovely Mariah – and will be married on December 1st!
And finally, my sister in law Bethany is down in Mexico for a month studying Spanish. She started a blog for the time.
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August 13, 2007
We spent the weekend up in Trout Lake for a small group retreat. I took Erin and John through Deadhorse cave, and then we picked some delicious huckleberries for pancakes the next morning!
July 17, 2007
It’s a quiet drizzly morning hear at the Lahash office. I love the rain, I think I still consider it God’s blessing – after growing up in a pastoralist society where rain was the result of prayer.
I’m working on carving out one day every month to meditate and pray for my life and work. It’s already tough, and I don’t have kids. But I know I must be still and know God or I will end up old with the sands of unimportant accomplishments dripping through my fingers while lying on my bed with a tired heart. I need to be animated by a force outside my own busyness.
The stereo in our green car broke. I spilled chai on the dash one road-trip, and it decided to stop working. So on the way to work, it was very quiet. No podcasts, no hiphop, no audiobooks, no 365 tunes to make me laugh. Just silence.
The pastor of the church where we house our offices has a note on his door – “Silence is not Absence, but Presence.” Very beautiful words.
July 9, 2007
We had a fun July 4th with Jeanette’s kids and a host of friends and family.
Progress is continuing with the Lahash office, and the teams in Sudan are making a lot of headway with the new dorms. My friend Nick just got attacked and was stabbed with a knife as he was carrying out work in Eldoret. You can pray for him and the safety of all of our partners in Africa.
My bro Phil just got back from the Philippines. Man, his photos of life there and in the quick stop to Japan are so incredible. The style of life, the culture, and the beliefs are so unlike what I’m used to. It’s good to have Phil back in town though.
Today I have been married for one month! Thanks to Erin for patience and kindness!
July 1, 2007
The iPhone
Back in April of 2004, I bought my first cell phone. It was a Verizon phone, and I got one year of service. Even back then, Mac rumor sites were predicting Apple would come out with the iPhone, and people weren’t sure what network it would be on.
This past weekend, that infamous phone was introduced. It seems, with some minor flaws, to be one of the most intelligent and useful electronic devices created. I haven’t seen one review that is negative (besides little quibbles).
My current phone is about dead. The glue is leaking on the inside onto the screen, a screw came out, and the battery lasts about one full day if I don’t use it for more than a few minutes. I’ve resisted upgrading my phone for about two years now anticipating the arrival of this new device.
The big question is – can this purchase be justified? I’ve been saving money in a little white envelope for quite some time now, so the savings are there. But still, is it worth $600? Especially as I’m promoting good stewardship of resources and sharing our gifts with our family in Africa?
I’m leaning toward yes. I’m not a person for flashy hi-tech toys, unless they allow for serious work to be done on them. I use my iPod video every day as a storage device, podcast recorder, video training and presentation tool, and contact holder.
The iPhone would allow me to update appointments on the fly, create and modify my growing Google spreadsheet and document collection, email from anywhere, present Lahash videos (including our expanding YouTube collection) from anywhere, consolidate my devices, hold data, input ideas, showcase photos of the work in Africa, update the blog, make use of visual voice mail, and the list goes on. In short, it’s a moderately handicapped computer in my pocket that’s always connected to the internet. It seems like a great purchase.
That said, one of the biggest concerns would that it could be seen as a waste of money or as a status symbol. Erin and I are still praying about it, but I needed to get my thoughts out on the web.
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