Party On!

We had another fabulous BBQ party at our house this past Sunday for church. When we booked the Rec Center, there was one week in May (this past Sunday) that had already been booked by another group, so we had to meet somewhere else--bummer!!! Everyone came over to our house for some food, drinks, campfire, and general foolishness. We had some visitors, which is always nice. Kids ran around screaming dressed as princesses, dogs fought over tennis balls and begged for food and we all shared memories we have of the past year at CTK Durango. The two times that we've done this have been some of the best times of my life! I just can't describe how amazing it is to look around my home and see people hanging out, laughing, encouraging each other, and sharing what they feel is meaningful about being a part of this church community.

Oh, and burgers and brownies and beer are fun too!

Hummer Season!

My season of driving Hummer tours has got off to somewhat of a rocky start. After finishing the final adjustments/repairs and prerunning trails all weekend, I had my first bonafide tour on Friday. It was a group of women who have been to Durango once before and liked the tour so much they decided to come back just to take a ride in the Hummer--no pressure there! The whole day went great until we hit the Test Track (an area with big inclines and off-camber obstacles that show what the Hummer can do). I had just finished climbing a steep ledge when the motor cut out. I realized immediately that I had forgotten to switch fuel tanks and the motor had run out of fuel. Priming the fuel pump and restarting the truck is not a huge deal on flat land, but with the nose pointing up in the air, I was pretty much dead in the water. After Jenn came to shuttle my people back to their hotel, I was able to finally get the truck started again. It involved winching the Hummer up hill with a snatch block pulley from my Jeep to a tree to the truck--then I had to use two jacks to lift the back end up enough to get fuel to the motor. In the end, I got back to town in time to bring the ladies back out and finish the tour (I'm not sure why the agreed to go back out with me!). I'm really hoping this experience was more of a final kink to smooth out as opposed to a foreshadowing of things to come!

Taste of Durango

Yesterday was the annual Taste of Durango event in town. Three blocks are taken over by local restaurants in booths selling food, beer, etc.--the proceeds of which go to benefit Manna Soup Kitchen. Our very own Ruthie, who is the program director at MSK, organized the entire event including recruiting the 200 volunteers it took to set up, work, and clean up the TOD. Almost everyone from CTK was involved at some level with the prep or running of the day. I was most proud of the inroads and relationships Ruthie was able to establish through this. It will be interesting to see how we are able to better integrate with our community in the future because of the connections and impressions she made through the Taste of Durango. Another highlight for me was working security at the event and all the amazing free food that comes with the role of Security Roamer!

Being Gay in Church

I've recently had the opportunity to meet with some friends of mine to talk about what it means to love God as a homosexual. Ultimately, I can't say we've come to many solid conclusions, but we have made a commitment to seek God and his truth above all else--no matter what it looks like. I may refer to this ongoing discussion from time to time because I believe it is one of the most relevant conversations a Christian can have in our culture and time of history. I would be interested in any (non-anonymous) feedback you would be willing to offer.

Here are a couple initial thoughts from my recent conversations:

---God loves gay people! No matter where we go from here, we have to acknowledge that Jesus died for everyone and any person, gay or straight, who is intereseted in knowing God throug him should be embraced and encouraged. Behavior and baggage come in second to establishing relationship with God.

---Scripture cannot be ignored. We may not understand certain things about God's word, but we cannot throw things out that look, on the surface, to speak against what we think or how we feel. We must commit to an honest search of God's truth which is presented to us in scripture.

---The vast majority of homosexuals did not choose to be gay. It may not be genetics, but even if you believe conditioning influences sexuality, a small child who is lacking authentic and balanced love or is being hurt intentionally by an adult is not choosing the sexuality they grow up with. There are some people, I believe, who choose sexual perversion as adults--these people are purposefully trying to do anything they can think of to distort God's creation--they are not, by far, representative of the bredth of the homosexual population.

Here are three questions my friends and I have agreed to grapple with in light of homosexuality and scripture:

1. What do we do (as homosexuals) with the reality that men and women are created to be compatible sexually?

2. What do we do with the fact that God has laid out a pretty clear picture of marriage between men and women and the relevance of balanced gender roles in raising children?

3. How much of who I am now has to do with things that I've experienced or things that were withheld from me in my childhood.

In Romans 1, Paul states that one of his purposes for writing to the Christians in Rome is so that he can encourage them in their faith----and so he can be encouraged in his faith by them. The bottom line in my relationship with these new friends of mine is that I want to help shepherd them in their relationship with God and I want to learn about God and his profound love for his children through their journey and friendship.

Once again, I'm so pleased to be part of a church community where these topics can be addressed. I'm glad we address these things, not in theory or doctrinal conjecture, but inasmuch as they relate to the lives of the people we love.

Show and Tell

We had a great weekend in California! We packed as many meetings into a 72 hour period as humanly possible. We came home exhausted and inspired to continue in the adventure God has laid before us in Durango. It was great to see so many friendly faces and catch up with good friends.

One of the highlights for me was meeting with a couple students from my Santa Cruz days (over ten years ago). We had lunch with Hillary and her mom and her new baby boy. About five years ago, I had the privelege of marrying Hill to her husband, Sonn. It has been an amazing thing to watch her grow up handling the joys and responsibilities of being a wife, a school teacher, and now a mother. I am so proud of how she has brought God's Kingdom into the world through the context of the life she's developed. It seems like just yesterday that I was trying to convince Hillary to go down a hill on an inner tube with way too many people stacked on it!

I also got to see a kid (now a man) named Dan. In high school, Dan's younger brothers used to show up to church with sharpie tattoos covering their arms. After high school, people weren't sure about the wisdom of Dan apprenticing at a tattoo shop. Today, there is a six month waiting list to get a tattoo from Dan. He's opened a shop with a couple other guys and is respected for his art as well as his faith in an industry that tends to pride itself in its distance from God. It was so amazing to sit with Dan and hear about his journey. Of course, I also took advantage of the opportunity to let Dan put some of his art on me. There is a wide spectrum of opinion on the issue of tattooing. I personally see it as a combination of art and expression of what matters most to a person. For me, it has been an opportunity to illustrate my love for Christ as well as his for me--in this case, I was able to add to that the experience of supporting a guy who I couldn't be more proud of and inspired by.

We also met with about sixty of the people who have been supporting us over the past year in Salinas. It was so exciting to show them what God has been doing in Durango. I think the benefit of the meeting was as much for us as anyone. It gave me fresh perspective on the beauty of God's mission for us here. It affirmed his call on our lives and this community and gave me a renewed energy to reach out to the people in Durango who have given up on church, but still burn with a need for God. Over all, the trip was a great success. It provides a fantastic transition to whatever it is that lies ahead for us.