October Update

Amanda & I at Wine Wars,
Page Springs Cellars

It is Saturday morning and I'm just hanging around the house watching college football and taking care of some household tasks. The past month has gone by quickly, but its been a different quickly. It isn't necessarily the busiest time for us, but it is a work hard time frame. Work does seem to be a primary focus these days, with our separate schedules keeping us on the go, and making us cherish the days we do get to spend together. Some weeks are better than others, and its why we plan little day trips to Northern Arizona and elsewhere. It also doesn't hurt that we need to go North to pick up our Wine Club shipments.

Speaking of wine, Arizona actually has some really good wineries! We've joined a couple of clubs, which let us get quarterly shipments of wine. I know I enjoy it a lot, and we start to see the differences not only between varietals, but between vintages of the same varietal. In other words, we can see how different years of wine are different from each other...based on growing conditions, soil, and the way they blend and age the wine. We get several tastings for free with our wine club memberships as well, so Cottonwood, Cornville, and Jerome have become a bit of a second home. Even Sonora likes going up there because she knows there are hikes nearby (Sedona is just 15 miles North!) and a couple of really fun dog parks where she can run and play.

In fact, Sonora absolutely loves playing fetch. On weekend mornings if I don't go run, I can take Sonora by car to a nearby neighborhood park to play fetch. She doesn't even need a leash these days, and is only interested in the ball! If others are around, she just says hi and then goes back to the ball! Last weekend, she even let me know when she was tired and needed water, by running back to the car and waiting for me to open the door! She knew it was time to go home!

One final note of the past month is that we are full-time attending a new church. A friend and classmate of mine is the lead pastor of a small church plant called Emmaus Road. We've been supporting them in various roles over the past year, but with me being done with school there are also some opportunities to serve and do pastoral care within that community. I love their vision, and they really do get to know each other. What's funny is they meet just about a mile or two from where Amanda works at John C. Lincoln, so now we really are more tied to Central and North Central Phoenix than we are in Avondale, where the house is. If property values were different...would we look to move? I'm not sure!

Personally, I realize that there are some major drawbacks to the suburbs for me. I think community loses some of its value. Everyone just does their own thing, living their own schedules and there is not a genuine connecting with those around them. Even churches have this challenge, which is why some of the programmatic, attractional models work well but lose some of the pastoral care and "life together" which is better found in other models of church. For us, its a matter of God's call, and I truly feel God calling me to serve in a role that builds up community around the Kingdom of God; that values individuals for who they are, and not what they do or don't do for the organization or in life. This is the call of the church I believe, which is not programs or even "doctrine" as primary, but simply Jesus Christ, and the love and grace which comes through His proclamation of the coming of the Kingdom of God. We live in this love, aware of this grace, together remembering we are ALL beloved by God.