Woops

I've been a bad participant of this study. We're supposed to be two weeks in and I'm on day 3. Reasons, I have 'em, but who needs excuses? It didn't help that I spent the first week of the study in Boston and didn't spend much time in one place during that time.

It's the first day of Autumn. WOOHOO! I love this time of year. Granted, it's a little colder up here than I'd like, but soon I'll be a resident of Somerville once again. Boom. Autumn. Time to watch The Royal Tenenbaums. Time to hang out in a coffee shop and sip on a chai.. wait, check! That brings us to the present. Chai and coffee cake while the wind whips outside and the sun peaks through a thinly overcast sky. I just noticed the foliage this morning.. as if it had turned overnight. The bog is glorious, like God took a paint brush dipped in red paint and waved His arm across the top of the canopy, then orange paint a level lower, then yellow, and left the green. All of the trees looked that way, the most beautiful uniform imaginable.

I've gotten myself stuck on Doctor Who. Unfortunately, the part I enjoy most about the show only lasts for several seasons, so I'm forever looping through episodes I've already viewed. This is a great way to kill something that you like. Now I've found Trock- Time Lord Rock- a genre of music inspired by the show. Haha, yes, this exists! People are crazy. Some of it is very catchy, all of it is pretty poorly produced. I'd recommend a song or two but unless you're a fan of the show you wont like it- again, the quality is ok at best and so the only thing these tunes have going for them are the sentimental/emotional connections that they create between listeners and the stories from the show that they're referencing. (ok, ok.. I very seriously can not stop listening to Doctor is Dying by Chameleon Circuit)

Whew, we sold my Grandma's house. Well, it's under contract, and while I don't specifically understand what that means, I get the impression that it's better than not being under contract. I'm moving to a great location near my darling Davis Square in Somerville next weekend. The apartment itself isn't overly sunny or open, but the room is a good size for me and the roommates are pretty low-key. My priorities are always location and price, and while I could get a bit closer to Davis, I really couldn't find a more "cost efficient" situation. I'm psyched to be able to walk everywhere once again. I drove 30 minutes to get to this coffee shop. I'll have to drive 30 min to get home. Agh, gas is so expensive. Give me a $59/month T pass!

One of the most fantastic things about this move- God's impeccable timing on several levels here- is that it will put me in proximity to a church community that was just planted last Sunday in Boston. A LOT of people from Reality churches across California flew out to pray over the city for 3 days before the opening of the church on Sunday. I attended Reality LA for about 4 months when I lived in LA in 2010 and fell in love with it... God has given that church body such a collective heart for the city of LA as well as the greater world. I loved the spirits of worship and prayer that were so evident. So I prayed for a long time after returning to the east coast, that something like Reality would pop up in Boston. Lo and behold, here they are! The announcement of the church plant was actually released 9/2011, I believe, but I didn't find out until 3/2012 when rolling back through some of the online sermons on Reality LA's site (I still listen to Pastor Tim just about weekly). Very cool as I'm not sure that I would have come up to Maine had I known that the Reality family was starting to expand to Boston as early as last Autumn. Praise God because I have had hugely valuable experiences up here. (Man am I going to miss some of the people at my now-previous employer!) And now, just as Reality is getting up and running officially, the house is selling and I feel free within my soul to move back (no one has obligated me to being up here.. but I did come up here to help and would've felt unsettled leaving before things had wrapped up).

The sun has won and this shop is starting to smell like lunch. I've already spent $6 on a chai and coffee cake.. do I splurge on a sandwich? ...knowing me, probably not.

Something new

Great. Day 1 of my online study through Beth Moore's James: Mercy Triumphs and I'm tired and cranky. Maybe that's an overstatement of my current mood, but I've only just finished dinner at 9pm and have yet to start my first day of "homework". Time to press on... will just mean a short entry.

Ok, just finished. Blessed by a great quiet and calm over the past hour. I wonder what it was like to be James, to be the brother of Jesus, someone to whom no one could possibly match up. It's hard enough between two normal siblings.