Driving through Utah

Travel Update: We left Azusa, California at 8am on Tuesday and arrived in Buena Vista Colorado at 11:40pm.

Topics of conversation in the car:
#1. Death before the fall - our universe operates tremendously on principles of decay... radiation, light, burning (stars), growing. For animals to survive there has to be death because all living creatures feed on other living things - carnivores and herbivores. And so did man. Why would a God create a universe with laws for operation and then randomly have a component of creation violate them. Man grows, lives, operates on all accounts on this principle as well... and thus would have had to reached a point of "earthly" mortal death... though hundreds of years beyond what we know life to be now.

#2. Going to prepare a place - the universe we live in was prepared for us so intentionally and so fine tuned. It has dimensions and universal laws that govern our existence... such as space and time. If Jesus was "going to prepare a place" for us that means an alternate existence with new dimensions and new universal laws would have to be created for us to exist in. Essentially, a feature of our existence as a unique creation of God requires that we exist in a defined state. Our new "universe" (for lack of a better term) won't necessarily be the same as the one, but it also won't put us on the same playing field as God himself. He is beyond the requisite of dimensions. After our death on earth, we may understand more, we may be going to a better place... but we won't be elevated to a status of a mini-God ourselves. I think American evangelicalism subtly, maybe unknowingly, promotes the idea that our supernatural capabilities in "Heaven" will be more than what I read the Bible to imply about our nature as created beings.

Yes... we really talked for quite a while about this yesterday driving through Utah. :)

What is normal?

What we see in this world... or maybe this country... is social, relational, political, and religious conformity. Anyone outside the majority norm is "odd," or "crazy," or if you're nice, "unique." But what is normal anyway? Just the majority's choice for living. Rarely does that interest us.

Goodbyes

Goodbyes are hard. We've been saying goodbye to so many people we love... but it's weird when we are intentionally not making plans for the future. So are the goodbyes for good, or are they a temporary thing if we return to SoCal.

The other night we had our final goodbye with the few remaining Res. Lifers on their way out. I'll post a picture soon. It was sad because so many were already gone... and the rest of us were on our way out. We love you!

Last night we went out with Eli. What a blast! I'm so glad we could end the year this way. We've worked closely as coworkers this year... but have ended as dear friends.. and that's what matters! We love you!

Our beloved Mark had a party for us tonight, too. Thank you Mark!!! We love you. Thank you everyone who came. We love you so much and will miss your friendship and conversation and laughter.

Tomorrow we clean. Then hopefully a final trip to Disneyland. Then we truly say goodbye and drive away.

Let the journey begin

We are on day two of unemployment.

Here's a comment I heard today... "unemployment isn't something people normally celebrate." Well, it also isn't something people normally choose. But we have. And we are.

Yes, it has been hard to walk away from a life that we cherish, jobs we believe in, people we love. But we have been comfortable too. When were we called to a life of comfort? Especially amidst so many questions in our minds that plague us about purpose and meaning in life. How can we continue on a road without knowing why we're traveling on it in the first place?

Which is what has brought us to this point. We're pulling over. Taking a break. I'm not willing to drive another mile until I figure out where I'm going and why.