my Blog

Love is all you need

Mon, 3 Jan 2011 13:26:21 -0600

It’s the new year. 2011. I have a few resolutions. Work out some, keep a proper budget of the money I spend, spend less, brush my teeth before going to bed, and the big one is to be more intentional about how I love my neighbor. That most certainly includes my actual neighbors, but also the wider, more inclusive meaning of those I come in contact with from day to day.

On the “projects for 2011” front, I hope to blog more regularly, and put together a photography project. Not sure what that will look like, but I hope it will culminate in an exhibition somewhere. Would love to collaborate with other photogs. Something that could bring attention to a particular social issue around poverty in our local community.

You might be wondering who is the lovely lady writing LOVE with a sparkler. That, of course, is my beautiful fiance, Heather.

Peace in 2011!

Thanksgiving with all sorts of family

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 13:22:12 -0600

This was the first year my fiance and I split thanksgiving between our two families. It involved lots of driving, hence the road sign pic. We survived. It was a weekend of several firsts for me. Growing up in the frozen north we didn’t do a lot of “football in the front yard” over this particular holiday. So throwing around ye ol’ pig skin before digging into a turkey was a first for this transplanted Alaskan. I watched the Philadelphia Kennel Club Dog Show and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (both all the way thru), both firsts for this guy. Oh and I discovered a breed of dog I had never heard of....the Scottish Deerhound. I am now a bit obsessed with getting one, however, Heather thinks it is ugly. Now, for the record, she isn’t wrong, but I like it anyway. Upon further examination of this dog’s needs and requirements it won’t make the final cut. It needs to run and exercise A LOT and I don’t have a giant fenced in yard where Albus could play. That’s right I already named it. I also saw the new Harry Potter this weekend.

We spent the first half of the holiday with Heather’s fam and the second half with mine. We had two Thanksgiving meals, which was ok by me. I did, however, go for a run and minor workout this AM.

Families are endlessly complicated, and holidays just seem to augment all of the things that make families unique. Now, add a new “to be” husband or fiance into the mix and you have something really interesting. Their was no major drama this weekend, which made me very glad. Heather and I are learning how to talk through tough stuff and where each other is really coming from. Being engaged is hard. People should tell you that beforehand. Being engaged during the holidays is very hard. Combining two lives, wait, check that...combining two entirely different families, that didn’t get to choose each other, is no small thing. I am blessed with a fiance that makes all of the familial complexity worth it. After all, this is normal. I just haven’t had to deal with it since I have been single up until this point. It takes a little relaxing, a little understanding, and not saying the first thing that pops in my head.

Happy (post) Thanksgiving!

I am engaged to a “soon to be” pastor...

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:34:02 -0600

Tonight I am headed to my first, uh, not exactly sure what it is, but I do know it is a thing for people are are the spouse of a pastor and people who are going to be the spouse of a pastor. Before I started dating Heather I never imagined I’d be a pastors husband. Honestly, I couldn’t be prouder. She is strong, amazing and has heart for meeting people right where they are and caring for them. The pastor is a traditionally male role and likewise the pastors spouse is a traditionally female role. Those spaces and roles have been defined by what they have looked like. I am quite interested in the experience of people who find themselves in roles that are not traditionally equated with their gender. So please email or comment.

I don’t have to look to far outside my own family for one example. My Mother served the public as an elected official after I left home for college. This put my Father in a role usually reserved for women. As I think back thru all the memories of my Mother’s time in office I see several instances where Dad stepped up to help and it didn’t look or feel like he was breaking out of a particular role, he was just helping. He was supporting, caring for and being of service to the women he loves.

Granted, the role of the “husband to a elected official” is a bit more fleshed out and defined. Whereas, the husband to a pastor seems less so. Again, I welcome feed back on this point.

Our lives are really full right now. Heather is finishing up seminary and looking for a congregation to serve. I am in up to my eye balls with my new company, Good & Fair Clothing and we are both planning a wedding. Needless to say we are busy. Tonight should be fun. I am pretty curious what I am going to learn.

Cheers!

A picture of nonviolence

Tue, 9 Nov 2010 08:54:40 -0600

The picture here is a replica of the original “pledge card” for people signing up to be part of the 1960s nonviolent movement for civil rights in America.

Number 5 hits home with me given my support for the freedom of trafficking victims and fair trade.

However, today I am think about number 2 “seeks justice and reconciliation - not victory.”

What on this list hits home with you?

The new thing....

Wed, 5 May 2010 12:33:05 -0500

I haven’t been blogging much over the past year. Bob Carlton’s return to blogging has inspired me today. The new thing is Good & Fair Clothing. In 2007 I saw an example of fairtrade business done well when I attended a Trade as One market at my church. That began a journey that has lead me to start a fairtrade clothing company. Good & Fair will start small with mens and women’s underwear and tee shirts and soon I hope to make jeans, khakis, and button down shirts when I can work out the design and fairtrade production for those more difficult to make items. I am partnering with, fairtrade certified, Chetna organic cotton farmers cooperative in central India. Cotton farming in India has been a tragic tale. Hundreds of Indian farmers have committed suicide because they were so in debt that they couldn’t see a way out from under the compounding monetary burden. They would drink the same pesticides that they bought with borrowed money to end their own lives. Now, with Chetna’s help these same farmers are paid a fair price for their product, and have the tools and knowledge to farm organically without the need for pesticides. I believe approximately 4,000 farmers make up this coop. No member farmers of the coop have committed suicide. A truly beautiful story.

These are the people Good & Fair supports, or, I should say, will support. We are in the design stage and set to place the first order this month. It is a scary and exciting time.

Stepping out into the work of God’s Kingdom, which I believe this is, is a massive undertaking. I was talking with a friend about “what makes a calling?” One of his major criteria were “it is impossible without God’s help.” As I heard that I thought to myself, well this (Good & Fair) qualifies. So many aspects of this are new to me and seem daunting. Only with God’s help can this be done. God’s people have shown up and pitched in. I turned my birthday party last weekend into a fundraiser, and it did so much better than I thought it would. The people and resources are showing up. The vision is clear and I am stepping into the calling. Am I totally prepared? No. Does that freak me out a bit? Yes.

“Good news to the poor” has been interpreted many, many ways down thru the years. I can’t pretend to think I know what Jesus meant in totality when he said he came to “bring good news to the poor.” However, I can’t deny that he must have meant, at least in part, that it meant fair pay for one honest work, not subjecting the poor to massive debt that they can never get out from under, and not taking advantage of the poor because one can.

I can wrap my head around that kind of theology and that gospel.

So much more to come on Good & Fair Clothing. Be on the look out for it.

Blessings.