Back in the Bean

After several hours spent in the tension-filled Charlotte-Douglas International Airport yesterday evening, I finally arrived home to Lowell Street at 12:45am, a full 3 hours past when my flight was supposed to land initially. This, of course, was due to the delayed flights of my airline, AirTran, and, while I wasn't particularly bothered or perturbed by the delays, there were some folks that were extremely upset. All in all, the flights were enjoyable, and I was blessed to have one of my friends pick me up from the airport. Most of the snow has melted now, and the temperature is significantly warmer than when I left last Friday.

Between traveling from Boston last Friday and traveling last night, I have now spent a total of 5 minutes in the Baltimore airport. That's right, 5 minutes. I literally had to sprint from the gate last Friday to board the plane to Charlotte, and, although I had to go from Gate D2 to Gate D27, I made it in record time. Last night was very similar, except that I arrived with my compatriots from Charlotte as the plane was being cleaned, and so we had to wait about 5 minutes to board. All in all, the "D" Concourse of the Baltimore airport is very nice and quite clean.

I think my total travel time, including last Friday and last night, comes out to somewhere around 17 or 18 hours, a stunningly high number when you consider that the actual flight time from Boston to Charlotte is only 1 hour 53 minutes. If you subtract the total flight time, which is 3 hours and 46 minutes, from the rest, you get an absurd amount of time that I was either riding a train, riding a bus, riding in a car, waiting in the airport, or waiting on the plane. [My plane from Boston was delayed in taxi-ing from the terminal because another airline was trying to be slick and slide in one plane after another one had left the terminal. This caused our plane to leave around the time we were supposed to land in Baltimore.]

Suffice it to say that my Christmastime flight experience was quite comical, very adventuresome, and without many dull moments. I was thankful to have a week to spend time with my family and close friends, celebrating the birth of Christ, and am now thankful to be back in the swing of things here in Beantown.

Happy New Year!

You Know You're Home for Christmas in South Carolina When...

You arrive at the airport and people are shouting, "Welcome Home!" in their most enunciated southern drawls.

You get to eat at Chic-fil-a - twice in one day.

You have friends that camp out for 30+ hours to get coupons for Free Chic-fil-a meals.

Your friends wrap their presents in the finest newspaper they can find.

Your granddad makes homemade wine from "scuppernongs."

You realize that Walmart is the redneck capital of the world, and, on Christmas Eve, is like it's own Redneck City.

Your 2 year old second cousin gets her first fishing rod for Christmas.

Your 6 year old second cousin asks the local car dealer for his autograph because she "saw him on TV."

You, and everyone else in your family, gets some money from the cow sale.

"Trash" is a Christmastime favorite.

You get Christmas presents that meet the following criteria:

* Are made by Carhartt
* Are boots
* Are camoflauge
* Have to do with fishing
* Are for your 4-wheeler
* Have the state flag emblem on them (Palmetto Tree and Crescent Moon)

Christmas Eve dinner consists of turkey, rice and gravy, green beans, dressing, squash casserole, macaroni and cheese, rolls, and sweet tea.

Christmas dinner consists of ham, dressing, macaroni and cheese, fried squash, green bean casserole, rolls, and sweet tea.

Your dog's stocking is as full as yours is.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

I've never seen so much snow in my life. In 3 days, as much as 20 inches got dumped on us here in Boston. The winter storm that brutalized the Midwest made its way East, bringing with it snow, sleet, rain, and some crazy wind. It was really beautiful watching the snowfall. Being from South Carolina hasn't really afforded me the opportunity to see snow like this, and, apart from the 3 feet of snow I saw last year in New Hampshire, this was the most snow I've ever seen in my life. It's definitely the most snow I've ever seen fall, period. On my walk to work this morning, I felt like I was walking through the Arctic Tundra or climbing up the North Col on Mt. Everest. As many winters as have passed here in New England, it never ceases to surprise me that people still don't adequately shovel their sidewalks. I'm from South Carolina, and even I know how to work a snow shovel. I laughed to myself on the way to work, as I felt my face numbing up because of the 15 MPH wind, and knew that if I just closed my eyes I would know the sensations of climbing up the world's highest peak, from the relative comfort of Somerville Avenue. All in all, I hope we're in for a white and wintry wonderland, and I'll settle for the arctic aftermath if it means I get to watch the snow fall again like it has in the past 3 days.

Here are some pictures courtesy of the BostonNOW and Boston Globe of the amazing snowfall.

"If we don't deserve anything else, we at least deserve to have a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs."

- John

This was a statement one of our clients made during the morning group today. I think it raises an interesting question about needs and the basic, inalienable rights of every human being. According to most Americans, our inalienable rights include Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. On a more basic level, I think, the right to shelter and food are primary. While I don't actually believe we deserve anything, I do believe that every person on the planet should be treated with such respect that their basic needs are met. An interesting quandary is raised in America, and particularly here in Boston, where more than 6000 men, women and children face the daily struggle of finding a place to sleep and finding their next meal, if we actually believe that meeting physical needs is an essential aspect in our Christian lives. I believe this, and I believe that the gospel can transform the lives of men, women and children that are affected by substance abuse and homelessness. I don't want to be relegated to that group of Americans that are classified by John Mayer's words: "We keep on waiting for the world to change." I long to be a man of action, a man utilized by God to see the power of the gospel transform the lives of men like John, who believes that, as a human being, he deserves to have a roof over his head and a meal in his stomach. I long to see the reconciliatory power of the Gospel go forth and change the way we look at the homeless population of our city, so that we might rejoice together at the coming of Christ's kingdom.

Boston Rescue Mission's Day of Thanks

On Sunday, November 18, 2007, the Mish hosted it's 15th annual Day of Thanks. We handed out more than 200 Turkey baskets, which included turkeys and all the fixins' to make the perfect Thanksgiving meal. In addition, with the help of a volunteer group from New Hampshire and the Mission's very own Dennis (in the middle of picture at left), more than 400 people were served a fabulous meal, complete with turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and more. We welcomed Boston's Mayor, Tom Menino, and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (on right), who delivered speeches and also helped serve the meals and hand out turkey baskets. It was a truly blessed day, and it was amazing to be a part of it. My job was to stand at the bottom of the kitchen stairs and let the desk know when to send more people down to eat. It was a wonderful picture of mercy, seeing men and women who, otherwise, would not have the opportunity to feast with a community, get a chance to eat a warm meal with folks who care about them. The gospel was certainly preached, both through the actions of the Mish as well as through the words spoken during the meal. I had the pleasure of speaking at length with a former client about Jesus and the beauty of the gospel, all while enjoying the fabulous meal prepared by Dennis. It was a great day.

Boston Now Article:

http://www.bostonnow.com/news/local/2007/11/19/governor-helps-give-out-food-at-shelter

Boston Herald Article:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1045686

NECN Video Clip:

Boston Politicians serve meals for homeless

Snow?

It's been a while since the last post, but things have begun to get crazy around these parts with all the holidays and with the weather finally beginning to resemble Winter. I know it's not Winter yet, but last year the temperature dropped a lot sooner than it has this year. Today, however, we're supposed to see our first snowflakes. I'm pumped.

(you can expect a couple of updates to come this week - first, some pictures of Tyler's and my apartment, and secondly, some pictures from the Boston Rescue Mission's 15th annual Day of Thanks.)

Red Sox Parade

If you haven't been able to tell, RED SOX FEVER is spreading like crazy here. With the return of the Red Sox to Boston on Monday instigating an enormous celebration on Monday afternoon [Tyler, my roommate, was there and actually touched Mike Timlin], and the Rolling Rally taking place yesterday, the city is abuzz with everything Red Sox. It is a pretty big deal when a team who didn't win the World Series for 86 years straight suddenly has won it twice in the past 4 years, and it has been really exciting to live in the city in the midst of this celebration. Unfortunately, even after bulldozing my way through a crowd, I wasn't able to see the street, so I tucked tail and headed back to work. I was able to score some sweet pictures, though, courtesy of the Boston Globe.

World Champions!

"It took all 25 of us to get the job done. It's just phenomenal."
-- Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who saved the final three World Series games [quote taken from ESPN.com]

The Red Sox have done it again! For the second time in 4 years, the Red Sox have won the World Series. The games were very exciting to watch, and Tyler and I were actually able to go to the first game of the playoffs a couple of weeks ago. I've attached a link to some pictures provided by ESPN.com of the 2007 MLB Playoffs. As Dane Cook has so aptly stated on all of the TBS commercials, "There's only one Postseason. There's only one October!" (for the record, I have no idea why Dane Cook was the spokesperson for the playoffs, or why TBS was the host for the ALDS, NLDS, and NLCS - I think Major League Baseball took one off the chin this year...)

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/flash/zoomGallery?section=mlb&photoGalleryId=3055030

New Blog - Happenings in Boston

I decided to start up this blog in order to keep my friends and family up to date with what's been going on here in Boston. Hopefully it's informative and helpful, and provides a pretty good picture of what life is like these days as I work as a Case Manager at the Boston Rescue Mission.
The past two months have seen much redemptive work being done amongst substance abusers here in the greater Boston area. The biggest news of the past couple of weeks occurred last week, when one of our residents here at the Boston Rescue Mission gave his life to Christ. Last Tuesday, a client named "Jim" prayed to receive Christ, and experienced for the first time the freedom of knowing Jesus Christ. It was amazing to see this man's understanding of forgiveness and mercy, and was an incredible answer to prayer.
Red Sox fever has spread like crazy here, and the city is buzzing with what could be the second World Series Championship in 4 years for the Sox. It's been really exciting to watch them throughout the playoffs - Tyler and I actually got to go to the first game of the Division series against the Angels [I've been to three games this year, and each time I saw the Angels play...crazy].

We're goin' to the Ship!