BLOG BLOG EVERYWHERE AND NOT A MOMENT TO BLOG

Everywhere I turn there's been a blogging opportunity, and yet I've been so busy I haven't had an entry in almost three weeks. So consider this entry a series of one-sentence summaries of all the things I could've written about during that time.

Holidays: I heard a great sermon on saying no to the busyness of this season so as to make room for beholding the wonder that is the advent season, and I haven't come close to putting that kind of peaceful thinking into action this year.

Marriage: My wife and I both got home the other night around 7ish from our jobs, looked at each other, and said, "We're always going to be workaholics, aren't we?"

Work: I've decided to respond to the distress in our organization as a whole, not by leaving or by bunkering down in my program, but by getting involved at an organization-wide level; so I am overwhelmed and yet energized by the challenge of going from running two departments to managing twelve.

Family: My parents don't seem to understand why I should treat work as anything more than a place to get a paycheck and benefits; important aspects of vocations like making a difference in the world, growing professionally, and taking a stand for virtue and integrity in the workplace are lost on them.

Books: I'm 99% done with my book manuscript, and only now realizing how much writing is required beyond the actual manuscript -- query letters, book outlines, marketing plans, writer's credential sheets, and the list goes on and on, if you want to get your book to market.

Church: Watching our eclectic church lurch forward in its congregational effort to write a mission plan has been a touchingly beautiful thing, given how little glitz and much heart can be found in our midst.

House: While it's old and rundown, and decorating and maintenance projects abound, our house is truly becoming a home; I spent last week at my parents' house in California, where I grew up, and that house felt foreign to me, while my house felt like home.

Current events: Saddam's capture, Strom Thurmond's daughter, Mayor Street's ongoing investigation, Pennsylvania's budget impasse . . . and no time to blog; how frustrating!