echoes of redemption

The giant tube worm lives on the bottom of the ocean and is one of the few organisms on earth that can grow without sunlight.

And xerophites are a group of plants that grow without regular access to water.

But nothing in all of God’s creation grows without space.

Which should make those of us who want to grow ask ourselves some questions.

What do you want to do with your life? What kind of person do you want to be? Most importantly, are you giving God space to grow those things in you?

What if it meant slowing down your pace?

What if it meant observing the sabbath?

What if it meant taking a pause before you move on to the next thing?

There are a lot of things in our world we can grow, and even thrive without – but we will never grow if we don’t give God space to grow us in.

As the sun comes up on our second day in New York City, I wanted to jot down a few raw observations from our time here…

Our trip has been wonderful. And the streets, shops and restaurants are much less crowded than we anticipated.

The city is also far cleaner than I expected… but after walking around all day, I feel far dirtier than I expected.

Individualism is rampant. It is partially a compensatory mechanism (because it’s the only way to do life and stay sane with this many people this close together), but it defines the city and it’s people in deep ways.

Central Park is absolutely inspiring and I can’t imagine living here without access to it.

The heat, humidity and general lack of air conditioning are a beating. (This is intensified by a six week-old…)

Speaking of a six week-old… Emily is amazing and has helped Eden take everything in stride. Fortunately noise does not both her, and she is obsessed with music (already), so she ranges from ambivalent to happy depending on where we are and what style of music is being played.

And lastly, my patience and our ability to go with the flow and make things work is going to have to go way up in order to thrive here.

More later, but that is a start.

Quick update on where we are with starting the church.

I’ve wanted to drop this post for about a week, but haven’t had a chance to sit down and write it all out. It seems like things are moving quickly right now and we are adjusting to the new rhythms of life as parents.

Just before Eden was born I was in Orlando at a conference for pastors and met a couple incredible guys. After staying up half the night talking they found out we wanted to start a church in New York and I found out they want to start churches up and down the east coast.

We’ve been talking fairly regularly since and are in the final steps of exploring a partnership together.

So, today Emily, Eden and I are flying out to the city to spend a few days praying, soaking up the culture and getting our bearings as a family in New York. Then we’ll jump on the train to Annapolis to meet with our friends I met in Florida.

You can be praying as we explore this that God would give both sides wisdom and that we could understand how to best go about starting the kind of community we feel God has placed on our hearts for New York City.

More updates soon…