Taido posting today…

I had another post sort of set and ready to go, but it was way too colored by the sense of incompleteness I’m feeling in being separated from Alison for two weeks. While I’m certain you would have loved insight into what has sometimes been described as a slightly inaccessible psyche, that day is not today.

However, I would like to acknowledge what a rare and wonderful gift this summer has been for me. This journey began largely because a group of saints saw fit to extend to me (and my family) a study sabbatical. Funny how those words – ‘study’ and ‘sabbatical’ – which had such a romantic ring to them at the beginning of the summer now sound like a contradiction of terms.

And yet, it was with eager expectancy that I looked forward to the opportunity to read and research and be stretched in my appreciation for the intricacy and splendor of the Scriptures. Never mind the fact that most people here spend six months to a year to write their theses.  I was confident that I would have it all ‘wrapped-up’ by the time I headed home.

But with each passing week, I became more and more aware of how little I knew and how ill-prepared I was for the task at hand. So as the end of summer loomed larger and larger, I had to face the reality that despite many long hours of study, I was not going to be ‘done.’ While painfully humbling (and those who know me will see that as a welcome development), the time spent investing myself deeply in study has not been without lasting reward. With any luck, I’ll finish the thesis around the time Simon graduates from high school.

My life has been enriched both from the stretching and the humbling, but the biggest lesson has taken more time to learn. From the outset, I was eagerly looking forward to the vacation/road-trip/camp-out of a lifetime. With the beauty of the Pacific Northwest as our backdrop, the setting couldn’t have been better. Mountains and oceans. Hiking and biking. Stories and campfires. Wandering from one spectacular destination to the next. A new adventure at every turn.

An entire summer spent ‘living the dream’ and being together.

And they are, of course, one and the same.  This deep need that each of us has to be with another.  That truth wasn’t found in any of my books (or the countless footnotes).  It was a lesson learned on the trail, in the pop-up, around the table, amongst the homeless, over coffee, through gmail, in state parks, and right here at “chino house.”  And with this realization, I’ve had to un-learn that ‘the dream’ must be found somewhere else or in doing something else.

Instead, the dream will resume for me in a couple days… with my family… at home… surrounded by people who love and are loved… amidst a community of faith striving to live the much larger dream… together.