Living Between The Edens

"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."

Romans 8:20-25

Two weeks ago Ellen and I returned from a trip to Alabama.  Unlike most trips home, we weren't there to see family and friends.  This time we came with a group from our church to aid in the disaster relief efforts after the recent tornadoes.  We were primarily stationed in Tuscaloosa and the small community of Webster's Chapel, which was almost completely destroyed.  People were living in tents next to the ruins of their homes.

Ellen mentioned to me that our trip reminded her that this simply isn't the way the world was meant to be.  I immediately thought of the verse I posted above.  Something is wrong with our world.  Creation itself is groaning, and sometimes we can feel those groans more intensely than others.  Poor people with no insurance aren't supposed to have everything they own blown away by the wind.  Mothers aren't supposed to have their happy toddlers suddenly stolen away by a strong storm.  Creation is groaning, humans are groaning, it seems like everything is groaning.

Luckily, creation isn't just groaning, but it's groaning in the pains of childbirth - and that means that something is coming.  Our adoption as sons and the renewal of our bodies.  What struck Ellen two weeks ago was that amidst all of the groaning we saw in those small Alabama towns, something was pointing to an inevitable redemption and restoration.  If I had been astute enough to recognize it I would have told it to so many people we met.  But, oddly enough, the people we met standing in the spots where their homes once were seemed to already know.  They were smiling.

As my friend Andy Byers writes in his book, we are living between the Edens.  That phrase always made me think of the end of The Last Battle where Lewis writes, "...All of you are...dead.  The term is over: the holidays have begun.  The dream is ended: this is the morning." I groan in anticipation of stepping into that morning, the second Eden.

Read another account of our trip here.

See all of our pictures here.

Catching Up: 3rd Anniversary

I can't believe it, but Ellen and I have been married for 3 years!  Being married to her makes me the happiest man alive, and I always try to show her that.  We always try to do something cool on an anniversary, and this year was no different.  I had the idea to create a "Choose Your Own Anniversary" anniversary, with the theme being famous movies.  I made a little surprise video for Ellen:

She chose painting pottery, which had the potential to be romantic and fun.  What it turned out to be was a maddening waste of money.  Why?  Let's just say neither one of us can paint a straight line.  Which is why I ended up painting a solid brown pencil holder and Ellen painted a white vase with one blue stripe.

We recovered from this catastrophe by having an amazing dinner at Lucques, whose chef was just nominated for an Outstanding Chef  James Beard Award. 

 We thought we'd set up the tripod and take a few pictures, too.  Wow, they turned out great.

We did all of this celebrating on the Saturday before our real anniversary, since on the actual date we would be in Alabama on our tornado relief trip (blog post coming soon).  While there wasn't much time to do any celebrating while we were in Bama, we were actually housed by our old church.  That means that on our anniversary at the exact time we would have been getting married, we got to go into the sanctuary where our ceremony was.  It felt good to be in the same place we were 3 years ago, with the same person, even happier now than we were then.

Marriage is awesome.

Catching Up: A Tourist in My Own City

Goodness, there is a lot to catch up on.  We've been crazy busy since my last post on June 1st with friend visits, a romantic anniversary and a mission trip to Alabama.  But never fear, this week the catch up posts will appear (oh yes.  I rhymed).

Over Memorial Day weekend, some of our best friends came for a visit. Brother sister combo Ben and Katie and Katie's boyfriend Adam.  I LOVE when people come to visit because I get to be a tourist in my own city, essentially just doing all things I love to do most in LA.  And the best part is showing those things to people who haven't experienced them before.  So fun.

In a lot of pictures and a few words, here's what went down:

When Katie and Adam first arrived we went straight to Pinches Tacos* (my very favorite Mexican in LA)

Then we grabbed the best cupcake money can buy: Sprinkles

Next up, the Getty to enjoy our cupcakes on the lawn...

...and met Adam's doppelganger, Ryan Gosling.

On Saturday, we fought the traffic to San Diego to attend the super fun wedding of Bradley Hasemeyer and Kiersten Lyons

Then after church on Sunday, we drove up to El Matador Beach in Malibu.  It's like heaven.

Then off to a fun Sunday night out at Terroni and UCB.

 On Monday, the epic Disney day (14 hours) commenced.

 We hit a low point on the Finding Nemo ride (this is not staged).

 Then there was the "penny incident".

Then we rode on Tower of Terror with Tommy Magic (yes, this is his real name)

And we threw in some World of Color and some "clubbin" at Electronica before calling it a night.

We had so much fun Ben, Katie and Adam!  Come back soon!

P.S. If you want to read a more detailed account of what went down, head on over to Annie's blog who joined us for 80% of our activities :) or to see more pictures head on over to Katie's Facebook album.

*Pinches Tacos is this little family owned, hole in the wall Mexican place here in LA.  Coincidentally, they have family in Birmingham so they are opening up a Pinches Tacos in Homewood.  So if you are one of our Birmingham friends, go try them out!

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