June 2020 :: Retrospect Prospect

• What's happened lately? Starting March 2020, weekly Reflections On Scripture During a Worldwide Pandemic on my lectionary blog. Although early in the week notes after our live Sunday discussions are more dynamic and fluid, the new arrangement of a formal lesson with a few questions is easier for someone who wasn't there, and no one is "there" at church these days.

• I've updated all 4 design website content pages; this one has some old, some new client design:

• Sun Tree River Design

• What happened then? Exactly five years ago, on Sunday 21 June 2015, I moved into Current City from Previous City because I had to believe the huge metro area would yield a fair amount. My own light shines brightest when I'm helping others uncover their gifts! I relocated to LA to reboot my life; five years later I'm less involved in church and world than during the bleak last ten months in San Diego.

• Needless to say, my current situation only announces this is where my future begins. I'm thankful COVID-19 has given me a little more time to consider the future and more time to figure out long-term housing.

• Maybe you know musician Steve Winwood? "While You See a Chance," one of the many songs where he played all instruments asks:

• Don't you know by now
No one gives you anything?
And don't you wonder how you keep on moving?
One more day your way?

• I do wonder

• The city burned around me. The world protested in the streets, but I'm in so much pain I can't see ahead of me, behind, or to either side.

• Everyone loses some time, but aside from moving forward in the same direction ("One more day your way" as Winwood's song says) that hasn't yielded anything approaching the minimum I'd imagined, is there any point continuing to hold onto and claim my sense of call that never quit but that apparently interests no one but myself? I fully expected to come out in a broad place.

• Surviving through the death of my dreams has been heart breakingly lonely. God has rooted our lives in resurrection. Resurrection means death first. For the apostle Paul, the gospel – the good news! – is death and resurrection.

• Literally everywhere new ministry forms keep springing up in new unlikely places and in old, seemingly rejected spots. Also different configurations in those more expected venues.

• I need help finding a life-giving situation of health and energy—not just what I want but what I need, what can benefit people around me and people I've yet to encounter. To get formal about it, that would include building a long-term community of support, recourse, and connections. I'd like to find a spiritual director but cannot abide another virtual anything, so maybe later after real-life reroots.

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