Monday, June 7, 2010

Introductions and An Explanation

Ladies and gentleman, I thought this day would never come: I'm starting a personal blog.

One the surface, this might not seem so shocking. I’m a journalist. Writing is my passion, both personally and professionally. It might make sense that I would have been keeping a blog for years now, as an outlet to hone my writing, sharpen my wit, and get discovered as the next greatest personal essayist.

But I have long eschewed creating an online diary for myself, largely because I have felt as if the retellings and quips of my daily life are not important enough to take up even a nano-sliver of the (vast) space on the World Wide Web or your RSS feeds. Do you really care what new restaurant I tried or how hard my most recent work assignment was? Not that I mean to sound self-deprecating or cynical; I am quite satisfied with where I am in my life right now. I have just thought that what I think or do on a daily basis hasn’t been unique or revolutionary enough for others to read about it regularly, alongside all the other responsibilities and interests that are clawing for their attention.

Until now. Those of you who know me well may know that I am in the nascent stages of a completely different period of my life. On May 31st, I moved into a three-family home in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. My landlords will be living in the house as well, and are friends I have met through my church. In total, a couple handfuls of 20-somethings will be occupying the house. This living situation marks the impetus I have been waiting for in starting a personal Web log. It's not simply special because I'm learning to live in a new neighborhood, or because no one has ever lived with 10 people before. I'm not narcissistic enough to think that (despite the fact that I have caved on the personal blog thing).

The house represents a platform for the ten of us to be challenged and pushed in our beliefs in God as much as it does the place where we choose to rest our heads each night. It’s meant to be a fusion fun and spirituality, with a healthy helping of hospitality. One housemate has said that he hopes to view each one of us as someone he is equally likely to go to bar with as he is to get in a rousing discussion with about a passage of the Bible. Much of our residence in this home will involve fleshing out the what it means to combine these different baskets of activities, and in turn translate the way we live in the home into a force that can positively impact the other relationships we each have in our lives.

I didn't know most of these people roughly eight months ago. Now I have chosen to share my life with them. I think this group has come together purely by the work and grace and plan of God. It is certainly not meant to be a place where people with the exact same beliefs and lifestyles come together to isolate themselves from anyone with differing viewpoints. To me, this house is a small representation of the eclectic group of people that profess faith in and rely on a relationship with Jesus Christ. As I have grown closer to my housemates in preparing for this move, I can assure you that we are all bringing with us very different life experiences and takes on Christian spirituality, and that those different lenses will certainly push one another---most likely in ways that will be frustrating or uncomfortable at times.

As proof, here’s a quick panoramic shot of the housemates. We have a married pair that works in Christian campus ministry at a few of Boston’s colleges. Another landlord trades for one of the world’s top investment banks. There is a physical education instructor and another guy who teaches digital media instruction and film. A few of us work in healthcare: one as an aspiring nurse practitioner, another in fundraising and development for a big-name hospital. One lady was a piano performance major who’s working toward her PhD in musicology (i.e. the study of music. I didn’t know what it was either before I met her). And there’s a journalist who writes about technology and other nerdy things for a startup news blog. There might be a few additions in the coming weeks, so this group will surely accrue more colors.

We hail from Minnesota, Tennessee, Florida, SoCal, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. One is vegan; one eats like a six-year-old. We listen to some combination of indie Rock, country music, punk, Top 40, and tunes from Disney’s top teen stars. Our driving is all shades of terrible: from speedy and reckless, to skittish and grandma-ish. Some wake up at the ungodly hour of 4 am, others are lucky if they can drag themselves out of bed by 7:30, and aren’t fully awake until roughly 10 am. (That would be yours truly… but I come alive at night!). Our vices include video games and trashy reality TV. We have done marathons, half marathons, duathlons, triathlons, and piano camp. More than a few of us blurt out whatever’s on our mind at any given moment.

Together we form quite a colorful patchwork of people who are passionate about God, and are just hoping to let Him use us in our respective areas. We all have our flaws, which I’m sure will come glaringly to the light in the coming months. But more than that, I believe we will be refined. I don’t believe it will be easy or utopian. It may feel like we are being dragged through the mud at times. I don’t know much about what will happen; I just know that we have all entered into this hoping to better develop into the people that God has designed us to be, and to humble ourselves to be used by God in furthering His kingdom on Earth (This may sound like a vague ambition to many, but I’m hoping future posts will better paint a picture of what this means.)

This blog will serve as a peephole into some of those experiences. You can expect stories from our days and interactions with one another, insights or reactions to conversations we’ve had, reflections on Bible verses or philosophical statements that I think shed light on our house dynamic, and much more.

Readers, here you have my housemates. Welcome to our lives.

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