Multi-topic Update

I've been pretty lazy about sharing what's going on in my life, mind, heart, DVD player, etc....I know many of you are in anguish, wanting...nay, NEEDING to know what's going on with me. Fortunately I'm uploading a photo to Tumblr once in a while and sending a quick FB update often, so it's not a complete vacuum.

Topics: Marriage, Novel, TRQ, Pushups, God stuff

1. Marriage
Wendy and I are coming up on magic #7! Now let's see, what is it they say happens at 7 years of marriage? Oh...right: you get itchy. So far, no rash or other like symptoms...no itch for me. =) We had grandiose dream-anniversary events flitting through our minds: Royal Gorge train ride, B&B somewhere in the mountains, weekend in NY? But practicality reigns...we're going to "splurge" and do dinner and a movie. We're gonna do a nicer restaurant of course, but we're not above using coupons to do so. =)

2. The Novel
I've gotten some Fan-tastic (if I may presume to call you fans) responses from a couple people so far, with great comments and much-needed corrections. I haven't worked much on the story in the last couple weeks. Maybe the same laziness/procrastination applies here as well. I'm looking forward to make some edits and then pressing on.

3. TRQ = Tolkien Reading Quest
I knocked out the first two chapters of The Hobbit during lunch today, so I've officially begun "The Quest"! Hopefully it doesn't distract too much from "The Novel."

4. Pushups
Oy....this parade got rained on, flooded and trampled. Week 5 kicked my keister. I've been in the 3rd (read=tough guy) column the whole way through, but couldn't do week 5....twice!!! Grrr...I'm starting my third try of week 5 tonight, I don't know what's going on, but I feel so freaking weak now...hopefully this is just a "normal" plateau that I'll get past soon.

5. God stuff
I shared with a friend from church recently, that the term I'm feeling like applying to my life right now is: Awakening (or perhaps Re-Awakening). I think I was an "asleep" Christian for a good number of years after graduating from Biola. Just on cruise control. This last year has brought so many paradigm shifts in my thinking, it's as though I'm discovering God and life as a Christian for the first time. Any arrogance or assumptive thinking I had developed as Christian who had thought he'd arrived at a "comfortable" position of knowledge has been gradually getting stripped away.

"Brokenness" is a term I've always disliked. I think I always had put it in a context of being "broken" by life circumstances, sin, etc....an emotional basket-case kind of image. Bug recently I've been applying it to myself in the sense that God has broken down everything I thought I "knew" about him, life, relationships, holiness...the list goes on. Duh. I've never been a very emotional person, so it makes sense that my "brokenness" is intellectual and spiritual.

Ok, I feel like I'm rambling now...so let me bring it to a close.
Wendy has been a real inspiration/teaching-agent for me as well. I thought I was the reader of the family! She's been voraciously devouring (and applying) book after book...and not sci-fi/fantasy fiction(which is what I usually devour), but heavy, life-changing non-fiction books by some of the greatest Christian authors! We're starting to talk more openly about our spirituality...and other aspects of our relationship with each other and with God.

It's a good place right now.