Between meetings yesterday I had a few hours to see the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle.  I was a December baby, am a December baby, and as a child we used to celebrate my birth annually at my aunt and uncle’s home in Fremont.  Art installations, unlike restaurants, homes or even high-rises, are permanent fixtures in a community.  Fremont had a wealth of artists back in the 60’s and 70’s, the marks of which can still be enjoyed today.

“Waiting for the Interurban,” is an art installation of simple cast aluminum.  The artist, Richard Beyer, successfully combined the industrial feel of the big city with the natural treasure of the Northwest forests.  These six life-size figures were originally rough carved out of cedar blocks.  At the whim of residents and anyone who happens to be walking by, these treasures are given fresh form, color, and life.  I once thought to take a photograph of the six everyday for an entire year, to gather a time-decay sequence reflecting the attitude of Seattle’s former creative center.  The life of these statues brings a vibrancy to this classic Seattle neighborhood.  

A few blocks away one can visit another piece of Beyer’s work.  I like to think of this man as “The Pioneer.”  This man may have been carved as a blank for aluminum casting; or he may have been designed from the very start to be a slow-rotting sentry for a hillside condominium parking lot.  He is one of my favorites.  

He is Seattle.

Human beings are lovely creatures.  Humans love to create.  One of the greatest pains of dying must be the perception that one’s days of creating are over.  Each one has a set number of days, which can be counted on their hands, and they will live no longer than that.  For Mark Giles that number is infinitely greater than he might have imagined a few years ago.  Mark, pillar of the All Saints Church community, was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma in 2004.

Since then he has founded and maintained a men’s group which meets every Tuesday morning, at Fisherman’s Terminal, at 6:30 in the morning.  This is Mark’s ministry, to walk beside the men of his community in order to build the Body into a stronger, more impactful representation of Christ.  Mark’s illness transformed his life for the better.  I have heard him say on more than one occasion that he wouldn’t trade the experience of his Cancer for anything.  This morning I sat with Mark and his group for breakfast.  Tuesday morning breakfast, like Compline on Sundays at Saint Mark’s Cathedral, is one of the ways in which God holds me lovingly in His arms while I am in Seattle.

Mark has honored me since we first met with friendship and encouragement.  One of the things that Mark has helped to build in his lifetime is me.  Mark was the first person to suggest to me that I get involved as a volunteer at All Saints.  He told me “you should join the greeting team.”  And although I did not see in myself what he must have seen at that time, I joined the team.  Mark’s impact is far reaching and beautiful.  He truly is a lovely man.

I took a walk in the rain after the conclusion of our breakfast this morning.  The gray over our city is forecast to remain for many days.  I did not expect to miss the Albanian sun as much as I do.  Next week I will be in El Salvador with friends including Mark and my father Joe.  God provides light either from the sky or from good, gentle men; men like Mark Giles.

“I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17)

I believe in God, a god who is purposeful, intelligent, kind and present.  If I were to say that there is no reason behind the blessed way He has provided for me throughout my life, I would not be properly honoring all of the provisions made for my rich, amazing life.  When I was a child I had four grandparents, all of whom were amazing people individually; time and illness have claimed three of them.  Grandma Carolyn is the matriarch of my mother’s side of the family.  She became a widow 20 years ago.  She is my only familial connection to that generation.

At my father’s prompting I took Grandma Carolyn out for coffee yesterday.  My parents had a celebration on the 6th, and Grandma had stayed the evening with us.  Carolyn is tenacious, independent, willful, and smart.  At age 87 she lives alone in a two-story house, is the owner and operator of five apartments, volunteers regularly, and works during tax season for an accountant.  We sat and talked for a little over an hour about her father Ray, Yakima city, my grandfather Norman and travel; happy memories of life building.  At one point she said “without me, there’s no you, huh?”  I smiled, I have thought of that often.

After our time together, my grandmother loaded her things into her Cadillac to begin the three hour drive back to Yakima.  She makes the journey back and forth some 10 times a year.  I hope I inherit her strength, fortitude, optimism, and sense of humor.  God’s love, greater than I can know, is evident in the blessing of this amazing woman in my life.

It was Sunday.  I woke up early to drive to All Saints Church in Seattle, about 40 minutes north on the freeway.  Traffic was light, and so I had time to get a coffee before the 9AM pre-service meeting at church was underway.  Yesterday was my third Sunday back at All Saints, a church I have attended since 2004.  I was honored with the opportunity to read the scriptures before Pastor Bill gave his talk: Matthew 18:21-35, and 1 Corinthians 13:4,6.

It was an excellent sermon, and I took a number of notes.  I think my delivery of the scriptures gave me a heightened awareness of them.  My notes read “Feelings that we can’t see are deep roots which have to be thoroughly worked out of the ground.

When someone wrongs you, it creates a debt.  This debt must be absorbed by someone.

When we get hurt we reduce the other person to their sin: liar, betrayer, thief.

It is not loving to be passive.

Bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness change us into the evil that was done to us.

It is not loving to seek justice.”

Last night I found myself without a place to go.  All Saints concludes its services at around 1PM.  I was in Seattle, but I do not have a home there anymore.  I wanted to go somewhere to journal, sit and be.  That is when I remembered Saint Mark’s Cathedral on Capital Hill.  There are few places in Seattle which evoke the feeling of “sanctuary.”  Saint Mark’s is one of the houses of God where people are truly free to rest, pray, listen, and listen to God.

I am very thankful for having homes in Seattle, places where I can rest.

On Thursday my father asked me to help him deliver two all electric vehicles to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.  Driving an all electric vehicle offers no small amount of disorientation.  I am used to driving gasoline or diesel powered cars.  After getting in for the first time and turning the ignition over, I didn’t hear the engine making any noise.  I put the gear-shift to D and began driving forward.  The Ford Transit Connect Electric makes a sound like a high pitched, humming vibration at 10 miles an hour, and it makes the same sound at 65 miles an hour.  On our way up to the 50th St. exit off I-5 I felt like I was driving with ear plugs in.

From Auburn to Seattle, the electric car did everything I asked it to do.  When I needed to go quickly, it sped right up.  When I needed to stop quickly or maneuver around a slow vehicle, the Ford was as responsive as a Volkswagen Jetta.  My father has been selling cars and trucks since I was 16 years old.  He and I have a long tradition of driving and delivering vehicles together from as far away as Arizona and Oklahoma.

He always strives to include me in his life.

Today I had to catch a flight out of Tucson to come back to Seattle, otherwise I would have been ale to attend Nathan’s birthday party.  He will turn seven on the sixth.  Nathan is one of the most outgoing people I know.  Children who have a lot of face time with nurses in hospitals tend to be comfortable around adults.  He will open a conversation with anyone at hand and is eager to make others feel comfortable.  The two of us went for a short walk today to look for the bobcat we saw yesterday.

It is good to be outside, under a cloudless sky, with a talkative youngster who has knowledge to share.  Listening to Nathan is a witness to oral flow of consciousness.  His most memorable quote for me was “Uncle Josh, I’m really going to miss you.”  Hearing those words was good for my heart.  His very next sentence sealed the moment in my memory.  He said “but after my party starts, I will probably forget you.”  

We didn’t find that bobcat, but what we did find was every bit as good and interesting as that deadly prowler might have been.  The desert is full of treasures.

When I was a boy we would get enough snow to justify a day of sledding about one year out of three. On special occasions we would go up to one of the nearby mountains to sled, in earnest, as a family.  On my brother’s birthday one year, my brother-in-law Dan and I took Brandon up to the sled run on Snoqualmie Pass.  Brandon was 8 or 9, and on his first run he landed at the bottom in a shallow pool of water that had collected there.  To his credit, he refused to call it a day and we spent the next four hours working up an appetite.

Today the Funks took me with them on a morning drive to the cabins on Mount Lemon.  Mount Lemon is the southern most ski resort in the United States, and it is a beautiful park.  On the mountain-spiral climb from Tucson there are dozens of rock formations reminiscent of the mascot from the Vancouver Olympics.  So slow-carved by the gentle erosion of the high desert, these rocks are magnificent.  With snow sticking to the shaded parts of the mountain, the desert highway is beautiful.

Shortly after we reached the sledding area my sister asked me if I would carry the backpack containing the Funk family’s foster child.  Isaiah is a lot of baby.  I was more than happy to bear him for the rest of our time there.  Natural wonders were not the only things to see on the mountain.  The shattered remains of poorly constructed, plastic sleds were everywhere along the base of the sledding hill.  Bright green, orang and blue littered the fresh snow.  Katie had a friend, and her friend’s family along.  They brought the number of our party up to 12.

Everyone had a chance to get in as many sledding runs as they wanted too.  Daniel was taking photographs with his great-lensed camera, enjoying his growing children on a rare day off.

Kara was the general, always standing by to distribute care, comfort, justice, or food as needed.  I find that I really enjoy taking orders from competent leaders.  I am satisfied to participate however is most advantageous for her because I know she puts the family first in all things, and that is what I strive to do as well.

I had a great day with my family today.  Shortly after waking up, my father and I went for coffee and a light breakfast.  We enjoyed some light conversation, discussing our upcoming mission to El Salvador on January 11th.  He asked me what I am most excited about.  I told him that I am really looking forward to spending time with Stacie Carpenter and Mark Giles.  After he and I got to the Funk house, we spent some time with Kara and Dan’s kids and worked in the yard a little.

I saw my parents off to the airport around 2PM.  There weren’t any tears.  They have been talking about getting a home in Arizona to spend their winters.  My parents are long on planning, and have lived in their current home since 1981, so I am not expecting anything to change soon.  With my parents now safely back in Seattle, I am the only remaining visitor to the Funk house.  I got to spend some quality time with Sammy the Saint Bernard.  My mother calls him “the wonder horse,” all of the kids call him “bad dog.”

I also got to see my older sister in her element.  Kara has a total of five children ages 12 and younger under her charge at all times.  I also watched Dan chase his kids all over the yard.  My family has been blessed in many ways.  One of the greatest of the blessings we’ve received is this man.  His dedication to God, my sister, and their children is an example I hope to follow some day with my own wife, with our kids.

My brother-in-law has a rare kind of intelligence.  I have heard him on more than one occasion citing the Law of Entropy.  If there is a stabilizing force in the universe, it is God.  In this house, that stabilizer is Dan’s wife Kara.  Somehow she can reach into the chaos minute by minute and spin it all into a beautiful, thriving family.

Dear Reader,

Hello.  As one of the benefits of blogging with WordPress.com, the following report was compiled.  I found it interesting and thought that you might as well.  Love,

Joshua

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 5,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 8 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.