kenny

Since November, E & I have been apart of Submerge-the Midtown congregation of the NYC Vineyard.

Its becoming exactly what we've envisioned being apart of for a long time; the people, the leaders, the approach to eachother, life, God, etc. I do feel at home at our meetings.

Some interesting unsolicited feedback from visitors over the past few weeks:

• "It's like a party but with religious people."
  - from a woman (not a christian or church goer) who came with her boyfriend once. (it was not meant in a positive light, but we thought it was great!)
  
  
  
• "It feels like we're sitting in someone's living room."
  - from my mother-in-law who had a good time at our meeting, but was not used to doing church in the initmate setting of a 10th floor office suit
  

Being apart of this newly forming community of people was not something we had seriously considered until we had a serious leading to do so (one day I'll tell some of you about it) that was very strange, but right. Please don't get my enthusiasm be mistaken for unhappiness with the rest of the NYC Vineyard. I'm loving what is happening in the UWS & Staten Island. I love that I'm involved in a bit of everything.

Over the past couple months, we've seen submerge grow. Becoming a home away from home for a growing # of people. These are the people I can see spending the next couple years investing my life with... to see the Kingdom of God advance with in our city & to grow up with.

I'm excited about the massive responsibility we (submerge & the leadership team specifically) has dived into. This is the time that we're jumping in. Not just talking about what we dream of... but the time to actually do it, do or die. In the immortal words of the goonies, "...this is our time".

As romantic as that sounds, I'm now looking straight into the barrel of my own sin & attitudes that need changing. Dreaming can be so very disconnected from the mundane, minute to minute decisions that make up life in the workplace, with family or when you're alone. Sometimes it seems hopeless to change these things, but at others, I already feel like a different person.

So, like every other person within the 5 boroughs, we went to go see The Gates in Central Park 2 weeks ago.

I actually liked it. I do see the art & I thought it was very cool that it existed for a particular time, then is gone. The one thing that does bug me about these is the amount of press the artists go about paying for the whole 21M alone... as Eavis has pointed out, thats probably a massive crock (it was probably a measly 11M)... and I trust him on stuff like that.

Now, down to the most important part of the day... the man-eating central park leopard that practically chased me down.

Heres how it happened:

We were walking along the path towards to westside of the park, near like 79 street. That particular path has woods on one side & the road on the other & theres a curve in the path, leaving a blind spot towards the woods side.

As we walked along that curve, out of the corner of my eye I see a large spotted being moving through the bushes 3ft to my right in the woods, directly towards me!

I was about to attack, when I realized that it was.... a crazy woman dressed from head to toe in leopard print gear. She was cross-country skiing in the park & came out of the damn bushes. At first I was shocked. I mean head to toe, literally pushing through the bushes.

As I'm yelling at Erica to quickly take a picture, the leopard lady continued to ski over the asfault path & then crossed the street (a street made for cars, mind you) on her skis. There was NO snow on that path or street, I tell you.

I don't know what hit me more, the fact that she was like 70 & skiing over all terrain (& almost plowing into me) or that she was dressed like a cat of the wild.

I know these pictures don't do it justice... but just be thankful that we captured the moment at all.

Its snowing again here in NY. Sort of the sleet, icey snow that most people hate.
I love it. I like the cold. I was walking along 5th Ave in Brooklyn tonight & people are closing bodegas early, the dunkin donuts guys are sitting in there alone cause no body is out. Its nights like tonight that make NYC magical for me.

When I was a kid my dad worked for a company that sold salt for the roads. When it snowed he'd be thrilled (so I was) but everyone else would complain. Its strange how bizarre childhood circumstances like that can effect my perceptions of something as arbitrary as the seasons now.

Coming soon... I'll post the photos of the Central Park winter leopard that almost ate us for lunch while we were checking out the gates a couple weeks ago...