A Wish of Mine
My life has become fragmented into several different worlds. They are all cool in their own ways. But I have a wish. I wish somehow my worlds could be merged together, or overlap more, or something. I mean . . .

I wish my law school friends really understood how cool by Apex family is. They have no idea what we have experienced together.

I wish my Apex family had a hint of how incredibly challenging the whole law school experience has been for me. I don't have words to express how far this thing has stretched me.

I wish my non-parenting friends could experience with me the overwhelming goodness (and the sleepless frustration) of being the parent of two kids.

I wish my biolgical family and my family-in-law back in the midwest had shared enough of my experiences to really understand where I'm coming from and where I'm heading.

Occasionaly, I venture into a conversation trying to merge or overlap somebody from one of my worlds into the experiences from one of my other worlds. I enter those conversations hopeful. I usually exit those conversations disappointed. It is very hard to merge such distinct areas of life. Yet without those mergers, there are very few people who really know me. I suspect there are also very few people whom I really know.

I'll continue to watch for what happens. Perhaps the season for such merging has not yet come.

Please see the Apex Announcements Blog (link to the right) for info on Felix Avendano's funeral & visitation.

Getting to the Core of It All
Please find time to read Cheryl's blog entry from today, June 15.

I think that's it. I mean, things like:
*having a large Gathering once a month instead of once a week
*being a network of simple churches that meet in homes
*being family more than being a business

all mean absolutely nothing at all unless . . .

We love each other in a counter-cultural, "weird" (hey, what's wrong with those people?) kind of way.

We're not there yet. And it's my fault. And it's your fault. And we still have a chance to get there, which is really exciting.

And it's not about guilting each other into it. And it's hard (almost impossible) becasue our schedules are so full and our stress levels are so high and our relational skills are so bad. (thank you very little to the church, and thank you very little to past generations for failing to pass on relational skills to us).

Yet, we must hold out hope that we can become true family with one another. There's not much hope for us, for our city, for our culture, or for our world if we can't.