milestone reflection

A milestone has passed this month, and it passed rather uneventfully and unbeknownst to me. I have officially been blogging for over a year. What started as a way to reach out to people and discuss anything emergent due to my introduction to a few new authors, has since twisted and changed into a way for me to share my spiritual journey, ideas, and questions. Over time the experience has also made it easier for me to express my thoughts in writing, and sometimes with a creative or poetic flourish - well creative anyway, my poetry has always sucked.

Now with a year behind me, and at a new station in my spiritual life, I've decided that it is time to take stock. This is partly due to a rather eye-opening post by Josh over at Stupid Church People, he talks about his current status in his church detox and church relationship in general - Checking In. I've actually felt quite a bit of what he is talking about lately, though perhaps without quite as much intensity. So anyway, without further rambling, let's go through a checklist of sorts:

• Worship attendance? Sporadic - and apathetic about changing.
  
• Prayer life? Sporadic - and still feeling awkward at times, also seeking some kind of validation or something.
• Small group? None - and still none to be found that I feel compelled to join, yet starting one intimidates me.
• Bible study/devotional? Still can't stand them and see no point in joining them. Been there, done that.
• Overall church involvement? Hard to be involved when the only opportunities are the typical Sunday morning worship roles, which I'm not real keen on taking up.
• Spiritual relationships? Same - talking with some, blogging infrequently, trying to help others without being pushy.
  
• Spiritual health? Idling - I seem to be at a new crossroads, can't go back the way I came, but utterly lost as to where I am supposed to go from here.

I honestly just don't know where to go from here, but I have a sneaking suspicion the resolution lies somewhere in taking new steps in some other part of my spiritual life. I might need to work on attempting Gateway's 60/60 experiment which is part of their Way of Christ series, but I am not real certain on that front. We shall see...

back from oz

So I made it back from Australia fully intact, albeit with a bit of serious jetlag yesterday. Overall, it was a great trip; work went well and I got to see plenty of Melbourne, many of the sights on the Great Ocean Road, and some scenic hiking around the rainforests of the Otways National Park. I will definitely be trying to get back there again some day, Australia is a beautiful country with wonderful people.

That being said, I've been wondering of late if my blog needs a change of format or direction. I seem to have lost something the past couple of months, maybe its a form of winter writing hibernation, or perhaps its just that I've beaten my subject matter to death. I honestly don't know, and I might not figure it out for quite a while. So if there are drastic changes that come about over the next month or so, bear with me while I experiment. Otherwise, feel free to respond with some kind of interesting topic of conversation.

Cheers!

blending of old and new

Melbourne is an interesting city, probably one of the rare cities that I would consider a nice place to live for a while as opposed to being relegated to visits only. Overall, the city has a feeling of newness to it: clean streets, modern buildings, mass transit, and everything just seems brighter. However, despite the newness, there are some beautiful examples of traditional architecture intermingling with some of the more abstract designs out there. Take the intersection of Flinders Street and Swanston Street as a prime example.

On one corner you have Flinders Street Station, a bustling center for railway transportation. While I am no architect, I consider the building to be European-English style architecture, and the bronze domes and clock tower are beautiful. It's something I would expect to bump into in downtown London (though why I don't know, as I never been there).

Opposite this traditionally designed building, is Federation Square. Aside from being a very intriguingly designed set of buildings, it also houses a center for the arts, restaurants, a museum, and a visitor's information center. Despite my usual penchant for linear and orderly things, the skewed angles and patchwork facade always seems to pleasingly draw my eye. Rather fitting, they are currently highlighting an exhibit that chronicles the work of Stanley Kubrick.

While I have yet to take a photo directly of it, on yet another corner of the intersection is St Paul's Cathedral (which is the spire surrounded by scaffolding), and a bit further down the street what appears to be a mosque perhaps or maybe it's just Mideast-inspired.

While, yes, these are merely buildings which have no say in where they are built and who their neighbors are, the fact that these vastly different buildings co-exist in such proximity is a heart-warming thought. The ancient is being refreshed, the foreign is being recognized, the traditional has a fresh coat of paint, and the new is drawing people to them all. I have put absolutely no spiritual insinuation into this blog entry, none whatsoever. Cheers! ;o)

keeping a lid on good news

Have you ever had really great news that you were just dying to share, but for whatever reason you were forced to not reveal it until some time later? Did it just eat away at you everyday wanting to shout to every person you know that you had great news, and it had nothing to do with car insurance? Sometimes I wonder if that's what Jesus' young adult life was like - having great news and knowing that no matter how much he wanted to share it with everyone, the time for him to share it would not be right for many years. I may never be in a situation to have information that could not be disseminated for years to come, but I've known what its like to have to keep a lid on something for a few months. Just those few months are usually filled with mixed emotions: joy and happiness concerning the information itself, and yet depression or frustration that I had to wait to share it. In these matters, patience is a precious virtue and vision is a necessity. Typically the information is not the problem, but rather the timing of its release that is of primary concern.

My heart sings everyday with the blessing I have received and those I look forward to in the future. Some things I share, some I never will, and some are shared in due time.

land of oz

Hope everyone had a very enjoyable and relaxing holiday season, welcome to 2006. With the turning of the year, I was preparing for a new adventure in life as provided by my job. I am currently writing this blog entry from Melbourne, Australia. While getting here turned out to be a much longer prospect than it was supposed to be (thanks to some lengthy mechanical delays which forced to me to spend a day in Los Angeles), I made it in one piece and am now in a place I always dreamed of visiting. Some days I really, really, really love my job.

So to make a short blog shorter, I might be extremely erratic in blogging since I am sure I will have lots to talk about and yet very little time to do so. Duty calls first, then the sightseeing commences. Cheers mate!