The current plan...
I'm leaving Nashville December 31, going to Atlanta to spend New Year's with some friends and to pick up my friend Leslie who will be making the road trip cross country with me. We'll leave January 1 and arrive in L.A. Friday, Jan. 4. Classes start Monday, Jan. 7. I move into my apartment on Jan. 15. I'll be staying with my friend Shelby who is living out there right now (she's there til early March) until the apartment opens up.
It's a 6-month lease, so the earliest I would leave L.A. is July 15. But I might decide to stay through the summer and maybe even fall to get my on campus requirement done and out of the way. I'm really playing it by ear at this point.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
My Own Little 160 Square Feet
Today I secured a lease for an apartment on the campus of Fuller. It's getting closer to official that I'm moving to Pasadena in January.
For a comparable price to a 900-square foot home in Old Hickory, TN, one can rent a 160-square foot single/studio apartment in Pasadena....
Take a look!
The amenities include a personal balcony, which my little house in Old Hickory does not have. It is only one block from campus and has a parking garage - and most importantly, a Starbucks just a few blocks away!
For a comparable price to a 900-square foot home in Old Hickory, TN, one can rent a 160-square foot single/studio apartment in Pasadena....
Take a look!
The amenities include a personal balcony, which my little house in Old Hickory does not have. It is only one block from campus and has a parking garage - and most importantly, a Starbucks just a few blocks away!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
I Heart NY
I went to New York City November 8-11 with my church on an outreach trip. We did get some time for sight-seeing, too.
Times Square
We took a tour of NBC Studios including Conan O'Brien's set and the Saturday Night Live set. At the end of the tour, they let two volunteers be part of a newscast - I was the newscaster and discovered a new career!
Here are the skaters at Rockefeller Center:
Later on we went to the Empire State Building.
Friday morning some of us got up and went down to the Today Show. I even got on the show - right over Matt Lauer's shoulder.
Here is the tree arriving at Rockefeller Center during the Today Show:
That afternoon we visited Ground Zero.
Friday night and Saturday was our ministry time. Saturday we went to Brooklyn to serve Thanksgiving dinner at a church. Found this canopy along a street. Saturday night I got to drive the 15-passenger van with our team - and found a new career, cabbie in Manhattan!
The Manhattan skyline
The tree is now up at Rockefeller Center!
Times Square
We took a tour of NBC Studios including Conan O'Brien's set and the Saturday Night Live set. At the end of the tour, they let two volunteers be part of a newscast - I was the newscaster and discovered a new career!
Here are the skaters at Rockefeller Center:
Later on we went to the Empire State Building.
Friday morning some of us got up and went down to the Today Show. I even got on the show - right over Matt Lauer's shoulder.
Here is the tree arriving at Rockefeller Center during the Today Show:
That afternoon we visited Ground Zero.
Friday night and Saturday was our ministry time. Saturday we went to Brooklyn to serve Thanksgiving dinner at a church. Found this canopy along a street. Saturday night I got to drive the 15-passenger van with our team - and found a new career, cabbie in Manhattan!
The Manhattan skyline
The tree is now up at Rockefeller Center!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
The Phantom
I had probably one of the best Halloweens ever last night. Which isn't hard because I have never really celebrated Halloween so I don't have that many to base it on. But I really did have one of the best Halloweens ever last night.
I went with my friends Shelby, Shelley and Joe (Joe got the tickets from his boss) to the 1925 Original Silent Film Classic Phantom of the Opera with Live Concert Organ at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center downtown.
It was totally rad! They showed the silent movie while the organist accompanied in an improv style. The crowd was encouraged to participate with cheers and boos and hisses...though we think many didn't know the story at the beginning cuz they were hissing for the wrong people. They eventually caught on.
The organist had a really great sense of humor. One of the highlights was during the scene when Carlotta was singing (even though the Opera Ghost told her not to), the organist was playing "I Feel Pretty" from "West Side Story." So you see her acting and seeing on stage at the Paris Opera House and imagining her singing "I Feel Pretty"...very humorous.
It made me want to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000. OK, I need to log on to Netflik....
I went with my friends Shelby, Shelley and Joe (Joe got the tickets from his boss) to the 1925 Original Silent Film Classic Phantom of the Opera with Live Concert Organ at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center downtown.
It was totally rad! They showed the silent movie while the organist accompanied in an improv style. The crowd was encouraged to participate with cheers and boos and hisses...though we think many didn't know the story at the beginning cuz they were hissing for the wrong people. They eventually caught on.
The organist had a really great sense of humor. One of the highlights was during the scene when Carlotta was singing (even though the Opera Ghost told her not to), the organist was playing "I Feel Pretty" from "West Side Story." So you see her acting and seeing on stage at the Paris Opera House and imagining her singing "I Feel Pretty"...very humorous.
It made me want to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000. OK, I need to log on to Netflik....
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sorry, Beth
Here's the link to the BarlowGirl story at ChristianityToday.com:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2007/barlowgirl-0707.html
Stories coming on...
Shane & Shane
Needtobreathe
David Crowder Band
Thousand Foot Krutch (perhaps)
Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana (still working hard to get that interview)
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2007/barlowgirl-0707.html
Stories coming on...
Shane & Shane
Needtobreathe
David Crowder Band
Thousand Foot Krutch (perhaps)
Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana (still working hard to get that interview)
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Two New Stories Online
Check out stories on Third Day and new artist Jake Smith at CTI's ChristianMusicToday.com:
Third Day here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2007/thirdday-0707.html
Jake Smith here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2007/jakesmith-0707.html
Third Day here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2007/thirdday-0707.html
Jake Smith here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2007/jakesmith-0707.html
In Honor of Elijah Dunaway
Right now friends are gathered at a church in Hermitage, Tenn., to celebrate the life and to support the family of Elijah Dunaway. I wish I could be across town with them, but alas the office keeps me busy. My thoughts and prayers are with you all.
Elijah just turned five on July 10 and, in His knowledge and wisdom, God allowed him to leave earth on July 20.
Elijah was a sweet boy. He loved the movie Cars like quite a few 3, 4, and 5-year-olds that I know do. A cowboy at heart? I got to paint his room, oh, a year or so ago, with the words “Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play.” I believe the introduction his parents gave him to Jesus allows him to be His presence now, and perhaps to Elijah it looks cowboy-ish, where he sees something like “home on the range.”
It’s hard to understand or comprehend the death of a child. Though I’ve not had children of my own, I have enough important, dearly loved children around me to sympathize and grieve with Elijah’s family and friends. And the loss is sad and painful for me in relation to my friend Jeannette, Elijah’s mom. Loss hurts. Death hurts. The empty place left hurts.
I can honestly say, if I could have made a bargain with God to switch places with Elijah, I would have. I’ve lived 31+ years and have enjoyed life, though there are still things I’d like to see happen, but to give my life so he could see more, I’d do it. Besides, there are days I can’t wait to leave this mess of a world behind me.
It’s likely many of the same thoughts and questions would be posed for Elijah and myself, “A life was cut short. There were many things to look forward to. Why would God take that life away?” Any life of someone you love is precious, no matter the age. But day after day, people of all ages, races, shapes and sizes face this loss, face death. Some have faces we know, others are faceless and nameless to us, but it happens nonetheless. Most of us will not know when the bell will toll for us. It was a surprise to us last week with Elijah.
It’s all in the perspective, yes? I have to look at a larger picture. I believe that nothing surprises God. He lives outside our time limitations and sees the beginning and the end. Though he gives us free will to make choices in the middle, he has a multi-generational plan working through the ages in between (Ps. 33:11) that will not be foiled by man’s plans (Ps. 33:10, Pro. 19:21). He knows the plans that he has for his children, and since ultimately He wins in the end, the plans he has for his children, followers of Christ, lead to good. Evil and suffering and loss and death in this world are necessary because without them, we wouldn’t know what good and peace and hope and life are.
Am I sad about Elijah? Does it seem unfair? For sure. Why was Elijah taken now? Why only five years? God only knows. But I trust Him. God knows each life’s timeline and we’re not exactly privy to that information. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on a cross, at about 33 (less than two years away for me); why should my life’s timeline automatically be assumed to reach 80 or 90? Was Christ’s life cut short? Was He cut down in His prime? Was God surprised by that turn of events?
This loss still hurts because we live in a hurtful world with a space in each of us that longs for peace and eternity and fullness in God. We’ll only feel complete when we are fully satisfied in God, our Creator, in whose image we were created. When we are filled with Him, reflecting His image to the world, that’s the closest we are to knowing God and His presence and eternity – at least while we’re on this planet, in this lifetime.
I trust that God wouldn’t let anything happen beyond what I or Elijah’s family and friends could bear. I believe that Elijah is much better off now – trained in the knowledge of Christ thus far, he gains God’s presence in death. We take hope and find peace in that. And we realize once again how precious life is. But trusting that God has a bigger story unfolding in the world and we’re a part of it, some for longer, some for shorter spans of time, it means we need to each find our deepest satisfaction in Him as He works out His purpose for us now – each day taken with equal parts gladness and sobriety.
Romans 5:3-5, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Elijah, you will be missed, but Little Man, we’ll see you soon.
Elijah Grady Dunaway
Age 5 of Mt. Juliet, TN. July 20, 2007. Survived by parents, Keith and Jeannette Dunaway; sister, Grace Dunaway; brother, Josiah Dunaway; grandparents, Bill and Carylon Pentecost; great-grandmother, Cletha (T.T.) Triplett; 9 uncles and 8 aunts.
Elijah just turned five on July 10 and, in His knowledge and wisdom, God allowed him to leave earth on July 20.
Elijah was a sweet boy. He loved the movie Cars like quite a few 3, 4, and 5-year-olds that I know do. A cowboy at heart? I got to paint his room, oh, a year or so ago, with the words “Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play.” I believe the introduction his parents gave him to Jesus allows him to be His presence now, and perhaps to Elijah it looks cowboy-ish, where he sees something like “home on the range.”
It’s hard to understand or comprehend the death of a child. Though I’ve not had children of my own, I have enough important, dearly loved children around me to sympathize and grieve with Elijah’s family and friends. And the loss is sad and painful for me in relation to my friend Jeannette, Elijah’s mom. Loss hurts. Death hurts. The empty place left hurts.
I can honestly say, if I could have made a bargain with God to switch places with Elijah, I would have. I’ve lived 31+ years and have enjoyed life, though there are still things I’d like to see happen, but to give my life so he could see more, I’d do it. Besides, there are days I can’t wait to leave this mess of a world behind me.
It’s likely many of the same thoughts and questions would be posed for Elijah and myself, “A life was cut short. There were many things to look forward to. Why would God take that life away?” Any life of someone you love is precious, no matter the age. But day after day, people of all ages, races, shapes and sizes face this loss, face death. Some have faces we know, others are faceless and nameless to us, but it happens nonetheless. Most of us will not know when the bell will toll for us. It was a surprise to us last week with Elijah.
It’s all in the perspective, yes? I have to look at a larger picture. I believe that nothing surprises God. He lives outside our time limitations and sees the beginning and the end. Though he gives us free will to make choices in the middle, he has a multi-generational plan working through the ages in between (Ps. 33:11) that will not be foiled by man’s plans (Ps. 33:10, Pro. 19:21). He knows the plans that he has for his children, and since ultimately He wins in the end, the plans he has for his children, followers of Christ, lead to good. Evil and suffering and loss and death in this world are necessary because without them, we wouldn’t know what good and peace and hope and life are.
Am I sad about Elijah? Does it seem unfair? For sure. Why was Elijah taken now? Why only five years? God only knows. But I trust Him. God knows each life’s timeline and we’re not exactly privy to that information. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on a cross, at about 33 (less than two years away for me); why should my life’s timeline automatically be assumed to reach 80 or 90? Was Christ’s life cut short? Was He cut down in His prime? Was God surprised by that turn of events?
This loss still hurts because we live in a hurtful world with a space in each of us that longs for peace and eternity and fullness in God. We’ll only feel complete when we are fully satisfied in God, our Creator, in whose image we were created. When we are filled with Him, reflecting His image to the world, that’s the closest we are to knowing God and His presence and eternity – at least while we’re on this planet, in this lifetime.
I trust that God wouldn’t let anything happen beyond what I or Elijah’s family and friends could bear. I believe that Elijah is much better off now – trained in the knowledge of Christ thus far, he gains God’s presence in death. We take hope and find peace in that. And we realize once again how precious life is. But trusting that God has a bigger story unfolding in the world and we’re a part of it, some for longer, some for shorter spans of time, it means we need to each find our deepest satisfaction in Him as He works out His purpose for us now – each day taken with equal parts gladness and sobriety.
Romans 5:3-5, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.”
Elijah, you will be missed, but Little Man, we’ll see you soon.
Elijah Grady Dunaway
Age 5 of Mt. Juliet, TN. July 20, 2007. Survived by parents, Keith and Jeannette Dunaway; sister, Grace Dunaway; brother, Josiah Dunaway; grandparents, Bill and Carylon Pentecost; great-grandmother, Cletha (T.T.) Triplett; 9 uncles and 8 aunts.
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