Woo hoo! Fixed!

Check out the column to the right -->

Notice anything?
Good. You shouldn't. It's right where it should be, and not spread all over the page.

I expected to write much more here over this break, and I'm not sure why I haven't. I suppose I've been a little busy getting ready for the launch of pcusacollege.org (still a work in progress!). That consumed week one of break, with a lot of emails back and forth to friends on the east coast.

Working with people from the east coast takes up a LOT of time. I would wake up at a good early time, find 10 emails that they had written (because it was already noon there!), we'd chat a bit on the internet, then I'd spend the afternoons and evenings fixing those things, send some emails, etc. Sometimes I would even read other things for fun. Anyway, then it starts all over the next day. I'm not sure if it's more efficient yet to work with people at a distance. I think I'll call this concept "Time Zone Productivity Leverage".

It's been fun attending Maple Valley Presbyterian Church this week. I"ve had a lot of great conversations with old friends. It's a good place, and I get the feeling that they are in the middle of a transition. Feels like they're trying to work out a little bit more about who they are/are going to be in the next 15 years. That's good.

The card to the left was a little project of mine I worked on for the family. Pretty quality family picture, eh?

Also, I've turned on comments for anyone. Try it out. Click the "1 Comments" button right below this post and leave one. Of course, it might say "2 Comments", or "10,000 Comments", be prepared. You don't have to sign into any account anymore. I realize this will probably allow some random robots to post garbage, but it'll be nice to hear from those I usually wouldn't.

Leave a comment, right now.

New Template

This is a new template I wrote today to match the new look at steadwald.com

I like it... but templating for blogger is a little weird, so this is a real jumble right now. Oh well, I'll get back to it tomorrow!

Oh, one of those.

It's one of those nights. Cold, winter feeling. All that. The day started out just like so many other Saturdays this quarter. Laying around, not really wanting to do anything. I'm fine with that. Eventually I did get some stuff done (like packing all my belongings).

But then the temperature dropped. My plans of walking around in the afternoon, or even the remove possibility of going out for a little run faded gave way to my desire to stay healthy (ha, by not running...) and visit friends. The cold air didn't change my day too much, but it had an impact.

But then it started to snow. As the tiny sandgrain sized flakes began to fall to the streets in the cold, Bellingham rapidly took on a different look. Usually snowfall is eagerly anticipated by thousands of Western Washington University students. I remember being in that place; the anticipation of whether or not classes would be canceled, the excessive calling of the snow line, and the eventual caving to play late into the evening and early morning in the snow with friends whether there was school or not.

This snowfall is different for me. I'm not a student anymore, so I'm not really waiting for anything to be canceled. Most students have returned home by this point after finishing their finals, so I don't even feel the spillover from them. This snowfall, it's just me. Just me and some friends.

3 inches, maybe less. That's all. But that's also all that it takes. Snow has always had a strange power to change a community. Pre-existing plans and obligations get canceled, people come outside their houses and play, friends stop by to see if you'd care to join them. Complete strangers ask if they can borrow your sleds for a quick run down the hill, and you let them with no hesitation. We find ourselves in neighbor's houses later on that we hadn't met until this point. Community looks different when our ability to transport ourselves and build schedules is hindered by a mere 3 inches of white snow.

I realize that I keep saying it looks "different" which I think has something to do with my training in foreign countries that things are "never bad, just different". I've repeated that with people, used it to help myself be open to other cultures, and heard it said a thousand ways. 

But for today, I'm willing to say that having the snow on the ground was better. I was in better, more complete, community because of it. With that said, it wouldn't be healthy to have the snow on the ground all the time. I'd probably become some kind of hermit.

But good or bad, different or the same, this is one of those nights. A day that started out as completely ordinary and was transformed into something I couldn't have forseen. I couldn't have forseen it because the start place seemed an unlikely place to start for such an extravagant ending, and on top of that, the end was something different than I could have arranged on my own.

In a bigger way than my musing about snow changed communities, this is a season about the ordinary and unlikely becoming extrordinary. Advent is a time that we sit waiting in expectation for the coming of Jesus Christ, a new king, that would come into this world in the most ordinary, unlikely, way for a king.

This is one of those nights.

PSALT - 2008

Well, a month+ has passed since my trip to Louisville, KY, so I guess it's probably about time to write something about it...

This year's fall PSALT (Presbyterian Student Advocacy and Leadership Team) meeting was great. The most exciting part of this meeting for me was being able to get to meet the people that we had elected to PSALT from their applications just a month prior. We picked some awesome people to serve students across the country through this team. I'm excited to see how the work will continue in the coming years with these enthusiastic young members (haha, that makes me sound old).

The first night we spent getting to know each other, because the team had been pretty depleted over the last few years. Actually, during our get to know you games, only Betsy, Rick and I had met before out of the 10 or so of us.

The next morning, I led a brief (so brief!) devotion about our unity in Christ. During our time together, we realized we were going to encounter many different viewpoints on social and theological issues. I think the devotion set us on the right track and helped us keep our focus on what was important.

Of course, we couldn't get to work before taking a little historical tour around the PC(USA) Presbyterian Center(headquarters). The building is amazing, historical, and very cool. The tour was interesting, and it was neat to see where all these people work that are behind emails, phone calls, websites, governance and more.

Over the rest of the day, we broke down what college students need and categorized them into a few different areas. Out of the weekend, this was the best thing we did. Not only did it help us figure out where we were starting from, it also got everyone excited for our team and trying to help students fill these needs.

For now, PSALT is working on a website. I know, I know, a website is only kind of cool. Another goal is planning several mission trips for smaller college ministry groups, or individual students to attend if missions wouldn't be available to them otherwise. As soon as we get the website rolling(and it's getting there!) we'll start collecting info on resources, ministries, and anything else. What should be included in all of this... We're not sure yet. Through surveying students and asking questions of people we know, we hope to figure this out more.

We took a little time the next morning to visit the Louisville Seminary. A pretty nice place, beautiful campus. After that, we took round one of departures to the airport and the rest of us headed off to Churchill Downs. Awesome.

I love our conversations about where the church is going. At times it feels overwhelming. Where is the PC(USA) heading? Is it right where it's supposed to be? What gets changed? Visiting different churches in different parts of the country has given me a bit more perspective on this and its become a bit of a fascination.

I'm excited to see PSALT moving. I have full confidence that the people that are on this team have a great vision for how we can start connecting with college students and providing resources. We've got a huge task in front of us, but we're moving forward. Excited to see what comes of all of this, and how it shapes the Presbyterian Church(USA) in the future.

Nearing the End of the First Quarter

It's almost here. The end of the first quarter. I can't really believe it. I posted on the INN's intern blog the other day about how it feels like we just started. With the whirlwind of activity, blogging here has fallen a little by the wayside.

Over the last few weeks, the things I haven't told you about are crazy adventures in ministry of things like building wooden frames for 25 feet of Christmas scenes, helping plan an alternative worship gathering, lots of hanging out with students, late nights building timelines about my life, or seeing Peter Rollins speak at Mars Hill Graduate School (not the church). All good things, but those things alone deserve a book and something more than a little blog post.

I work with a lot of awesome interns and staff. As this quarter comes to a close, I can use prayers to help me keep service in mind and keep myself mindful of their needs. Also, to end the quarter strong, and begin planning Winter quarter.

This post may have not informed you of anything, but it helps me feel like I've blogged, and removes all of the above items from things I feel like I should write about. I'll be able to write more frequently because of this. It's weird, but you probably get it. Right?