Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Fishing for Burritos

Even better, today I'm wearing my new WV polo. Man, I really need to do laundry.

I learned yesterday that I'll even be issued my own WV business cards. Now, I can't think of a single time during the last year when I thought to myself, "Gosh, if only I had a business card to give them," because frankly, I sit alone in an office most days and really have no one to give business cards to. But, I shall now join the ranks of people who can nonchalantly toss their business card into the fishbowl at Chipotle in hopes of winning a free burrito, and let me tell you, THAT'S exciting.

Monday, May 23, 2005


Small world, big Pug. Charity ran into an old co-worker, and this is her Pug, Lucy. Lucy had a few shots at the vet that morning, so she spend most of the event crumpled in a heap in her stoller while in a drug-induced stupor. Posted by Hello

Here a pug, there a pug...

Acting on a whim and a radio commercial, Charity and I trekked down to Lincoln Park yesterday to witness the 2005 Pug Crawl. The concept is really very simple: two bars on the same street host an annual party for Pugs and their owners, and on the designated day hundreds of both flock from miles and miles around to fill the bars and mill the street in celebration of all that is puggy.

According to a veteran of the event, with whom I spoke while absentmindedly petting her pooch, it used to be an actual traveling affair, with the crowds making their way from one pub to the next along a designated route, but it seems after a couple years of that, someone noticed that Pugs have REALLY short legs, and now the crawl is restricted to the length of one street. Of course, even that was too much for a trio of graying, geriatric Pugs I happened to meet, who took in the event from their perch in a retro baby-turned-Pug buggy.

There weren't quite as many dogs in costume as I had hoped for, but I did see one in a dress, one in a Harley vest, one in a Hawaiian shirt, a pair of Pugs in Cubs and Sox jerseys, a few with tu-tus, several in various t-shirts, and many with bandanas or fancy collars and leashes. I think my favorite was this bored-looking, rather portly Pug wearing a pink t-shirt with the words "Do you think this shirt makes me look fat?" stretched across her back.

All in all it was a very fun outing, if not a little surreal.

Pugs: further confirmation that our Creator has a healthy sense of humor. :)

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Official

Today I received my official WorldVenture polo shirt and tote bag in the stunning red, black, gray, and white palette with our snazzy new logo. I feel all corporate and professional.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Eternity in Our Hearts

As I've been thinking lately about the extra "sense" that connects us to that which is bigger than ourselves, I've found myself humming a song by Carolyn Arends that sings of Ecclesiastes 3:10 & 11 - "I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

It's the feeling that somebody's watching
When we're dreaming in the dark
It's the whisper we hear in the silence
Eternity in our hearts

It's the sense we are meant for a journey
But we don't know where to start
It's a restlessness nothing can settle
Eternity in our hearts

It's the longing for a home
We have never known
A yearning and a promise
It's the questions without any answers
It's a puzzle missing parts
It's the secret we've all but forgotten
Eternity in our hearts

It's a burden we all bear
A blessing we all share
An aching and the hope of glory

And for mere flesh and bone to contain it
We are almost torn apart
But it's the one thing that completes us
Eternity in our hearts

And so it’s believing that someday
We will see things as they are
And then we will know there was always
Eternity in our hearts
We are blessed with the burden of holding
Eternity in our hearts

Eternity In Our Hearts,
Words and Music by Carolyn Arends

"There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else."
- C.S. Lewis

The Sixth Sense

No, I haven’t started seeing dead people. I think there’s another “sixth sense,” and I’ve been pondering it since Tuesday.

Tuesday was one of those days that just made me glad to be alive, made me realize what a gift it is to be who I am, where I am, doing what I’m doing. I attribute much of that attitude to the weather. The sun was shining, there were just a few spots of cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky, and it was a balmy 78 degrees. I spent the hour and a half or so between work and small group in Adams Park, this historical square block of thoughtfully landscaped earth in the heart of downtown Wheaton. I settled myself on a bench under a tree and just drank in my environs, focusing on each of my senses in turn: the feel of lush grass beneath my un-sandalled feet and the cool breeze that kept throwing my hair in my face…the sound of children playing, the fountain running, cars passing…the intoxicating scent of lilacs on a bush nearby…the sight of the sun playing on the leaves of the tree above me, giving them almost a stained glass-like appearance…and last but not least, the lingering taste of chips and salsa, my quickly consumed afternoon snack.

For those few moments on that bench, I gave myself up to my senses, as though what I experienced through them was all that existed at that point in time. Thinking about it later, though, I realized that Tuesday afternoon’s experience would have been impossible without a sixth sense. I could have very well physically experienced all of the same sensations yesterday, and yet have been dull to some or all of them. I imagine some of the people who passed by me yesterday were completely unaware of the fountain’s gurgle or the grassy carpet beneath them. How often we hear but neglect to listen. How often things pass before our eyes that we fail to really see.

My experience in the park could have, would have been completely different had my heart not been engaged—my sixth sense. Or if my heart were not made gloriously and miraculously alive by Christ. It is this sixth sense, this heart alive, that allows my experience in the body to transcend my senses. Beyond what I can feel, hear, smell, see, and taste, there is a whole other realm…the realm of the spirit, the realm of the eternal. What enables me to find so much enjoyment in the simple things of a park is that I know that there’s nothing at all simple about the way leaves draw life from the sun or the way lilacs know when to bloom each Spring, and yet I have a personal relationship with the One who created them. It’s one thing to view and appreciate a masterpiece, but it’s quite another to be intimate with the Artist, to view the creation in light of the Creator.

If my heart is my sixth sense, then it follows that my sense of place in this world is directly affected by the state of my heart at any given moment. Is my heart at peace? Is there joy in my heart? Contentment? Thankfulness? Praise? Wonder? Or is it ridden with anxiety? Doubt? Resentment? Exhaustion?

The phrase “sensory overload” exists for a reason. If we were not able to block out certain aspects of our environment in any given moment, we’d go mad. But I wonder if we gave more thought to our sixth sense, allowed it to get a little exercise, if it might grow stronger with time, allowing us to more fully experience our world without being overwhelmed by it.

I was just thinking.

Monday, May 09, 2005


Dolled up for Suzanne's Shower Posted by Hello

Lovely Ladies

The weekend of April 22-24 the lovely ladies of Third Gerig's Class of 2002 converged on Indy for the 3rd Annual 3G'02 Reunion, hosted this year by Becca and "the other" Suzanne. The weekend's festivities included a pamper party, preparing and partaking of meals together, drinks and desserts at Rick's Boat Yard (a favorite from our Taylor days), lots of talking and catching up on each other's lives, and a surprise (well, short of) bridal shower for Suzanne (front and center in the pink tiara-adorned cowboy hat), newly engaged to our dear friend Barrett.

Whenever I get together with these girls--or even think about all of them--I realize anew that I am blessed beyond measure to have these gorgeous, intelligent, fun, and godly women in my life. I was picking up a book last week at a Christian bookstore here in town, and as she was helping me locate an item, one of the sales girls asked me if I went to Taylor. It took me a second to make the connection between her question and my Taylor t-shirt, but I quickly and enthusiastically confirmed my alma mater, and learned that she's headed to Upland in the fall. Fresh off the reunion, I launched into a little advice, whether she wanted it or not.

"You're going to meet some incredible people at Taylor. Get to know them. Invest in them. Open yourself to them. Dig deep, establish roots, feed your friendships with love and time and prayer and tears and crazy adventures. And when you leave that place, you'll have a set of friends for life."