Hey Everyone - I'm Back

Will

Here a few shots from I took the Lintz family this past Sunday. They were a blast to work with, and they have the cutest son, Will. Have a great day!

Mr. and Mrs. Ewing

This past Saturday there was a new addition to the family. I couldn't be happier about it either! I had the pleasure of taking a few pictures of my brother and his bride a few days before their big day. It was so much fun. 

Hope you all are having a great day, and check back soon!

Oikos

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your oikos." - Acts 16:31

There is no place like home. Today I set my watch back on Central Time for the first time since May 11, which felt real nice. Arriving at McAllen Miller Airport has never felt so good. I don’t know if I have ever been so happy to be home as I am right now.

This is not the first time I have been left home like this, nor is this the shortest I have ever been away, but this is the sweetest my return has ever been. As you know, I have spent the last week visiting my sister and her husband, Steve, in New Jersey. My family flew up to meet us, and we had an incredible reunion in the middle of the Philadelphia Airport. And if this wasn’t enough, the icing on the cake came when I saw my best friend standing in the airport. My family asked him to come with them, and of course did not tell me. Definitely a great surprise.

So, to answer your question: Yes. This summer has been absolutely incredible so far. I have been to various parts of India, Nepal, New York, Philadelphia, Delaware (by accident), and New Jersey. I have seen the Himalayas, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, where the Declaration of Independence was drafted, and Times Square. I have slept on a marble floor in Delhi, in a hostel with orphans, in a 19^th century British cottage in the mountains of Shimla, on a roof of a school, and on various other floors, couches, and beds. I have ridden in rickshaws, taxis, on the back of motorcycles, buses, and subways.

Taking into account all of this, I can say that this moment right now is the best. I am home, and there is no place like it. Not even close.

This past year God has taught me the incredible blessing of a home, of my home. Home is not the structure that is currently surrounding me as I type. No, home is my community. The Greek word used over and over for this in the New Testament for this idea is oikos. While I have been traveling from place to place, I have been longing to return to my oikos.

My oikos is my home. It is my community. The place where I find loved ones, friends and family. At this point in my life I am not called to India or New York. Yes, God has used those places to reveal himself more fully to me. But the immediate call of these revelations has lead me back to my oikos in order that he may use these experiences as a blessing to those in it.

Dr. Thom Wolf, the man I worked with in India, has an interesting concept called Oikos Evangelism. One of the reasons I spent a large part of my summer with him was a result of the impact this concept made on me as I read it several months before I ever met him. He says “Oikos Evangelism is God's natural means to spread the Good News, for everyone who has ever, or will ever receive Christ. And the key that opens every oikos is life transformation through the indwelling of the living God.”

People need community. I need community. And I believe God has placed me in my own specific oikos in order to glorify him and make him known. I don’t know where my oikos will be in the future, but I know where it is now.

This knowledge is what makes this return so sweet. I am returning to my oikos.

 

 

 

New Look

Well, tonight marks my one week anniversary being back in the US. This realization brings up some business that I feel obligated to discuss with you. 

This blog was created on May 12 with the intent of providing you, the reader, with updates throughout my stay in India. Now that the trip is over, I am faced with the question of whether I should keep this up. 

I want to relate this issue to a distant part of my personal life. I am reminded of a dating relationship I was in when I was in High School. Don't get me wrong, this was a great part of my life for a certain period of time, but there was a distinct time when it was clear things were no longer progressing. In fact, things were clearly regressing. I remember a particular moment when it would have been quick, easy, and relatively painless to end it and move on. However, this was not the path that was taken. Hindsight reveals this was the wrong decision. The relationship, at the time of the possible termination, had already seen its height. In this case, prolonging the inevitable had few advantages, but was actually quite unpleasant.

We are supposed to learn from our mistakes, right? Well, applied in this situation would mean I would recognized that this blog has served its original intended purpose and now it is time to move on. Well I have decided to make a small compromise with this philosophy. 

I am "moving on" from the "old blog" by merely changing the format and the title. That's fair, right? 

I can not tell you how much I have enjoyed blogging thus far, and so I see no logical reason to stop. I realize that when I address "you" I may be talking to myself, given that all my readers have lost interest by now. 

But if you are like me and tend to hang on, then I hope you enjoy the new look of the blog and the posts to come.