a blessing of discomfort, anger, tears, and foolishness

heard recently at the willow creek leadership summit, from craig groeschel of lifechurch.tv. it is from a franciscan benediction...

may God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart

may God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

may God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

and may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

how's that for a blessing? we keep using that word -- perhaps it doesn't mean what we think it means.

renton river days, 2008

here we are at renton river days -- our church's first contact with the public. we had a great time playing with the bubble wand, giving away freebies (bottles of bubbles, bookmarks, and candy), playing with kids, and talking with their parents. i wish we could have gotten a photo with all of the bridge people who hung around at our booth, so you could get a glimpse of the emerging diversity of our nascent congregation. and given the wide variety of folks we met -- old and young, varying levels of education and wealth, and a wide range of cultures and languages -- we're hoping that our growth in that direction will accelerate!

you may notice that b isn't in any of these photos. that's because she was in hawaii...

going out in style

we had the privilege of hosting m's sister l and her girls for the past month; papa p got to join them for the better part of the last two weeks. they did a lot of life with us, including making it out to b's graduation (see the slideshow in the left hand column of this page or see the album) and worshiping with us at the bridge. they also did the sightseeing thing all around the seattle area, occasionally with different members of our family.

but only yesterday were we all able to get out to the city together, and what a glorious day it was! after what seemed like over a week's worth of rain, the sun was out; the sky was blue; even mt. rainier was visible all day! it was a perfect day for a harbor cruise -- and for their last full day in seattle.

afterward, we stopped off at ram to celebrate father's day with delicious burgers, and topped it all off with a frasier mini-marathon.

we dropped them off at the airport today. i know they'll be glad to get back to hawaii, but we'll miss them. the house will be a lot more sedate without them.

so ends one chapter

yesterday, b completed the last exam of her storied high school career -- classes in three high schools and one community college in three cities on opposite ends of the continent. she graduates on saturday, and family is coming in from all over (texas, california, and hawaii) to witness the ceremony and share in her joy.

n finishes up her first year at kentridge high this coming week -- that's right, after b's graduation. apparently, tptb here in washington have decided that seniors should have the honor of finishing school a week earlier than everyone else. i think she'll just be glad when it's over. her summer is still shaping up, but is going to include a special birthday cruise (!). details soon.

rainy and cool -- in june?

okay, i know that the seattle area has a reputation for being wet and cool, and that's backed up by the meteorological data -- we average 226 days of rain per year. but i really didn't expect it to be so wet and cool (m says 'cold') in june. the forecast for tomorrow is a high of 54F/12C.

by comparison, our old home montreal is supposed to hit 81F/27C (87F/31C on tuesday!). yeesh...