I dropped the ball...literally.

Last night I was at the Tigers/White Sox game in Chicago. Some wonderful YoungLife people gave me their tickets for that game...row 12 right behind the Tigers dugout. The game pretty exciting with 2 grand slams in one inning (too bad the Tigers came out on the bottom of that!), but more importantly, I experienced the greatest disappointment of my athletic career: I dropped the ball.

Curtis Granderson caught a fly to end one of the innings, and as he was running in I stood up in my full Tigers' apparel and yelled, "Granderson, throw me the ball!" He looked. He saw the Detroit D. He threw. All my hopes and dreams of having a baseball straight from the mit of Curtis Granderson came hurtling toward me, got lost in the light a little bit, bounced off my hands, and landed three rows down. I dropped the ball and some White Sox fan--who probably never even played little league or knows a thing about baseball--kept it as a souvenir.

The rest of the game went by with many taunts from my friends and the random people around us about how I missed probably my only opportunity for a Major league baseball from a player.

Feeding Ducks

I was at home for a wedding on Friday and got to spend Saturday with my family--which involved a trip to the park for Noah and me. He spent some time feeding (and petting ahhh!!!) the ducks. Every time I spend time with this kid I'm reminded of the joy with which we should all approach life. Just thought I'd share some "feeding ducks" video from earlier this summer.

I'm Back...I think.

My father so kindly reminded me that I've been slacking off on this blog thing. Well, I guess the nine million transitions in my life overtook my blogging. But I'm back. Not in Guatemala, but back.

The transition back to Los Estados Unidos was a bit hard, to say the least. I've been analyzing it lately and really think that I transposed a lot of my culture shock onto Hinsdale. A little hard to minister in a place you don't really like (see JONAH). Well, God convicted me of my pretty crappy attitude and my heart is coming around and I'm excited to be here and working with middle school and high school students. Still not easy, but my heart and attitude are here.

It's interesting to think that one year ago I was student teaching in Guatemala. I've come so far, seen so much, and grown immensely in the past year. I'm thankful for all of it, but ready to live in the same place for more than a couple months.

I think the realization that is sticking out to me right now is what it looks like to pursue justice and mercy for all of God's children. God's children who are literally starving in Guate and God's children who are spiritually starving in the States are all crying out for someone to care and to love. So, unlike Jonah, I'm swallowing my pride and praying that God showers mercy down on this place and am anxious to see how he, in his infinite grace, uses me in that process.