Tag Archive for friends

A long overdue update

19 March, 2013 church, personal No comments

Apologies for the gap in updates (posting other people’s words doesn’t count!). My parents used to email me when I hadn’t blogged in a few weeks to see if I was okay, because it was an indicator that there was a lot going on! And life has been very full lately, for a number of reasons; so here are some highlights from the last month and a half:

LST ChapelUK: For the last week, I’ve been back in London. I came for my old college roommate Kaz’s wedding, and have been trying to get some rest as well as catching up with old friends. Last Tuesday, I got to speak in chapel at my alma mater, London School of Theology. (Pic courtesy of @tomlcox)

EAST SIDE: We had a couple of great meetings–with a pastor and a school principal–before I left London about a place for the new community to meet regularly, so I’ll hopefully have some good news soon. We also did some prayer walking around the neighborhood recently that was extremely encouraging and reminded us that God’s already at work in our city–and we’re on the right track! More on this to come.

HEALTH: Some of you already know that I made a fun little trip to the emergency room the other week, with what I thought were breathing problems. Turns out, it was actually a heart thing, something called “premature ventricular contractions.” Two doctor friends have assured me that there’s no reason for concern, since I’m otherwise healthy; but I’ll be seeing my primary care physician and then (possibly) a cardiologist in the coming weeks to confirm it.

PRAYERS: Please keep praying: (1) for continued momentum on the East Side; (2) for all of the upcoming Easter festivities, as we remember the most momentous weekend in history; (3) for my health as I return to the States and get checked out.

Anniversaries and Appreciation

5 November, 2012 church, personal No comments

Time sure flies, doesn’t it?

Two years ago on Halloween, I started my Leadership Residency at The District Church, not sure where the road would lead or what would happen, not sure whether or not I was even called to fulltime pastoral ministry.

I guess God did, though; and one year ago today, I was ordained and began my service as Associate Pastor at The District Church.

And what an adventure it’s been! As I look back, even just over the last twenty-four months, I can see how God has been growing me and teaching me, developing me and maturing me, hammering at those places in me that need purifying — the Master Blacksmith at work. I can see how God has been knitting together a tremendous community here in DC — a community of flawed and imperfect people, but a people who are being renewed day by day, a people who are seeking after God and seeking to serve one another and the city in which we live. I can see how God has been at work in so many different ways, and it is truly gratifying that I get to be a part of it.

To top it off, yesterday at the end of the service, Aaron, Amy and I were invited up to the stage, and the church threw us a surprise Pastor Appreciation Day (we had NO clue!), complete with ginormous cake and dozens of cards written to us by people in the community. It was truly humbling, so encouraging, and reminded me that I am so privileged to serve as one of the pastors of such an amazing group of folks.

It also reminded me how much I appreciate all of you. Most of you have been walking this journey with me at least the last year; many for the last two years; and still a good few since my time at Sojourners, at Fuller, and beyond.

And so I wanted to take this opportunity just to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your love, your support, your prayers, your wisdom, and above all, your friendship. I would not be where I am now, if not for you.

It’s been an emotional week

28 October, 2012 church, personal No comments

Whew.

Last night I got back from Minnesota where I got to see my friends Chris and Ashley get married at the coldest wedding I’ve ever attended (let alone, played and sung at). It was a beautiful setting, a wonderful (and definitely memorable!) ceremony, and a fun reception, too. Also had a little Fuller reunion with my friend Julia, who was also at the wedding.

Upon getting back to DC, I found out that Donna, a friend and neighbor who’d been a part of The District Church community pretty much from the beginning, had passed away this last week from the cancer that she’d been diagnosed with in August, when it was already late-stage. Donna had a tremendous story of redemption and she wasn’t afraid to share it–in fact, she was the first person from our church community to be baptized; and at our Sunday gatherings, she was a one-woman amen corner. She’ll be dearly, dearly missed.

This morning, I preached from Acts 4-5 about Jubilee and about the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, and I shared about a friend who’d told me this week that she was moving on from our community. This was a pretty difficult thing to hear, but as I’d been praying about it this week, God reminded me that … well, neither I nor our community is perfect. Still working through it, though.

Then, in between the two services, I got a text from my friends Isaac and Jess, who’d also been part of The District Church for a while before moving back to Minnesota (and I’d gotten to see them during my brief stop in the Land of 10,000 Lakes), that Jess, who was pregnant with their first kid and due tomorrow, had given birth to a beautiful little girl!

And to cap it off, this afternoon, as I was doing some work at home, I found out that another friend’s dad had passed away.

So it’s been an emotional week … heck, it’s been an emotional weekend!

I’d welcome your prayers for me, but even more so for those I’ve mentioned–those that are celebrating as well as those who are mourning.

Thanks, friends.

My boys

22 August, 2012 personal No comments

Got to talk to my boys tonight for the first time in a while. Good times.

Rest in peace, dear friend

6 March, 2012 personal One comment

This morning, I woke to a text informing me that one of my closest friends from university passed away yesterday morning.

Ashley was one of the first people I ever met at University College London when we both started studying law in 2000. We also lived in the same dorms in Camden Town, and we became good friends. And over the years, though he went on to practice law and I didn’t, though I moved to the US and he stayed in Europe, we made sure to touch base once in a while, just to check in.

Last year, we were finally catching up on a long-overdue chat, and he shared with me that he’d been battling a brain tumor for the better part of the last decade, beginning shortly after we graduated in 2003. He hadn’t really told very many people. He said didn’t want to be a burden on people; he didn’t want people to feel sorry for him or to treat him any differently just because he was sick.

We spoke in November. He had just gone through a particularly difficult episode and was back recovering in hospital. His sister Shardi served as our translator because he was on morphine to fight the intense pain. He expressed his gratitude that we were able to talk. I told him not to strain himself, that we’d talk again when he was better, that I’d see him next time I was in the UK, or he could come visit me in DC. He said he’d always wanted to come to DC.

That was the last time we talked.

I’ll always remember Ash as the life and soul of the party, always full of energy. To some he was brash and in-your-face; to others he was confident and self-assured. To some he was obstinate and hard-headed; to others he was a man of conviction. I knew him as fiercely, fiercely loyal–you always knew that Ash had your back. I remember that one of his favorite songs was Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” that he knew the words back to front and inside out and had no problem rapping it in your face. I remember him getting our gang into and then out of trouble. You could never accuse him of not living life.

Over the years, we had several conversations about faith. Ash never adhered to a certain religion, though he always expressed his support for my faith. In one conversation this last year, he said, “I just think it’s great when someone believes something and then actually lives it out.” He was about as excited for me becoming a pastor and getting ordained as anyone–even more so than many of my Christian friends. He followed my email updates and even listened to my sermons on occasion. We even got to pray together during one of our conversations last year.

Somehow–I don’t know how–I hope and pray that I get to see him someday. The world has lost a colorful character, someone who took his knocks in life and learned many, many lessons, someone who mellowed out and grew up. Someone I call friend.

Ash, buddy, I miss you already. Rest in peace, dear friend.

Now cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Horatio (Hamlet, V.ii)

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