In Virginia

Wow, we are here safely. That was a crazy day on wednesday and thursday leaving LA. Thank you to all our friends who made that happen with us. We couldn't have done it without you.

I haven't had some much time to process the whole thing yet. I will be posting some thought about our journey through seminary and back this week.

Peace

Corey

Exciting TImes

Some exciting updates.

1- Hannah turned two yesterday! We had a great party with some of our friends yesterday to celebrate our wonderful girl; although it is sad that we are saying goodbye to so many great friends

2- we got the job with CRM. As you know, we have a flair for the dramatic, and this happened three days before our move! It was a very intense process with them, and we felt really affirmed that God led our lives to intersect with their mission at just the right time.

CRM

3- our car is currently somewhere in the Idaho region of the country with Traci and Matt who are valiantly making their way towards Raleigh with our car

4- we are flying out of LA thursday

5- my last paper is in the process of being completed

THis has been a great journey for us that is taking new exciting turns at a great moment for us!

Also- Lo Lo is still sweet

Thanks to all have been praying for us through this process. We are incredibly grateful for the friends that we have.

A Couple More

“Other things being equal, classes with high social and economic privilege will scarcely be prone to evolve the idea of salvation. Rather they will assign to religion the primary function of legitimizing their own life pattern or situation in the world.” Max Weber

“I had hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom…Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itslef is neutral; it can be used either destrutively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good wil.. we must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.” MLK

A Few Intriguing Quotes

I am writing papers today and studying for exams (not exactly what I want to be doing on a beautiful Satruday in LA), but the light is at the end of the tunnel for me with school as we have less than two weeks left!

“God is always active and dynamic, never simply sanctioning the status quo, but always calling us to something deeper. The God of the gospel is a God of surprises who catches people off guard. What happens when God acts? Young folks have visions and old folk dream dreams. Water turns into wine. Mustard seeds grow into huge plants. Treasures get discovered in unexpected places. Holy people and prostitutes sit down for meals together. That what the kingdom of God is all about. North American culture is not terribly comfortable with this perspective.”

“Although Christ was a mystic, he did not philosophize or discourse about various truths. He demonstrated them. He didn’t argue that spiritual life should conquer matter; he walked on water. He didn’t argue the worth of womanhood, he treated them with infinite respect and appeared in resurrection first to a woman; he didn’t argue that God answers prayers, he prayed. Many teachers have tried to diagnose the disease of humanity---Jesus cures it.” E Stanley Jones

Gandhi said- “he would find God must have as much patience as the man who would sit on the ocean beach and take up a drop of water on a straw and put it asise and thus empty the ocean by carrying away one drop of water at a time.”

“The mission (of the church) is to become Christ’s very body in the world to bring about a relationship of shalom with God and throughout all of creation, including humankind.”

“An individual gospel without a social gospel is a soul without a body, and a social gospel without an individual gospel is a body without a soul. One is a ghost and the other a corpse" E Stanley Jones

Elpis

Last night, we had a great time connecting to some new friends, Darrel and Rachel. We wish we would have got to know them better before. Both of them have huge hearts. They took a class on human trafficking at Fuller, and felt like they needed to do something about it to start mobilizing churches and faith communities. Basically, they are realizing that lots of people are raising awareness, but not many people know what to do help. So, they started Elpis- which means expectant hope in greek, and are tryint to both mobilize and create a network of churches/people that want to bring hope to people trapped in modern day slavery.

They are walking out into the unknown and God is connecting the dots for them along the way as they learn and grow in the process. It was exciting for Danielle to see more people get involved with this issue. We are excited to be in communication on the east coast while they work out on the west coast. Ideas travel fast, and we are looking for an abolitionist network to be established through churches in the US.

I thought one thing Darrel said was really profound: organized crime is more united and sacrificial than the church-- the russian mafia, eastern european gangs, tribal leaders, and american drug runners are more willing to work together (even though they usually hate each other) to smuggle women/children into our country than the church is willing to come together to bring light to people trapped in darkness---is money more powerful than the Spirit of Christ?

The Elpis Project

Right now, they have some great resources for awareness, but are just in the initial stages of getting a network started.

Car Repairs

I think going to get a car check up is one of the most dreaded things in my life. I am pretty much ignorant in the subject so anything they tell me I pretty much just have to go on intuition, and I always feel like I'm going to get over-charged.

Well, today it was different. I met Hrant. Hrant is a car-savior. He not only remembered my name and greeted me personally when I came to pick up the car, but he went through each charge point by point, the charge was under the estimate, he gave me a folder to keep my records in, told me I could bring it back if I had any problems, and he shook my hand with a smile.

Amazing. He is a picture of justice in action in the most unlikely place.

Blown Away by Love

We are leaving from Pasadena to move back to the East Coast in 16 days, and the amount that we are trying to do this summer is actually impossible without the help of others. Some kind of pride in me resists receiving love to this level and relying others, and I am really blown away by how people have responded to us.

My parents not only drove to Williamsburg to pack up a Uhaul for us from our house we are selling there, but went the extra 10 miles by making up for Uhaul and driving to Norfolk to pick it up because they didn't have one in Williamsburg. They then rearranged their schedule and loaded up the truck and drove it all the way to Raleigh to our new house.

Bryce, Laurie, and Braden also helped with stuff in Williamsburg as well as 4 Tribe football players that I haven't met yet.

Then, our new church community in Raleigh, re-arranged their schedule to help move in our stuff there in less than a half-hour. Wow. We reall are blown away. There will be a big party when we get there.

Shannon Smith said there should be MVP awards given out...and I think he is implying that he deserves it for carrying our grill without a wheel, our two ton TV, and our pull-out couch. Any others in the running?

Thank you so much for the love

Corey

My friend, Kasey

Today, I had lunch with one of my best friends I've made here at Fuller. He is leaving tomorrow to be a pastor at a church down in Canyon Lake, CA on the way to San Diego and has a great opportunity. I'm really excited for him as he gets a chance to lead a younger church community within a bigger church community there and the pastor has a great heart. He said they were talking recently and the pastor (60 years old) said, "I wonder if anyone in Canyone Lake would notice if we no longer existed?" and he answered his own question by saying- "i don't think many people would besides our members." Before he retires, he wants to see that change and is hoping that Kasey can help make that transition to permeate and preserve the community as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. I wished more churches and leaders asked these kinds of questions and were willing to make courageous changes rather than maintaing and growing their own institutions.


Kasey is a friend of mine who has made seminary learning worthwhile as we've got to really share this process of learning and growing together.

May the Lord use you to unleash the gifts of the church to show another way of living is possible through the Spirit my friend.

Bryce Comes to Town

Uncle Bryce came to town yesterday, and Hannah LOVED him. She woke up this morning and said, "see bryce," and we said "do you love bryce," and hannah said, "yeah."

It was so good catching up and laughing with Bryce. It made us miss our friends in Williamsburg, and we just had a lot fun together.

This Makes Me Laugh

We have been watching the office recently, and it is my new favorite show. This is my favorite scene. I