Wednesday, August 30

Reflections on One Hundred!

Yippie, it's my hundredth blog! It's been an eventful seven months in the blogosphere, and I thank everyone for their participation. It just so happens that I've run out of things to say. I guess one hundred is a nice round number. Just kidding. I'm sure I can think of some more senseless and innane dibble with which to clog cyberspace. Take that technology!

Monday, August 28

Reflections on Family Reunion

Kathi and I had a fun weekend. We drove down to my Aunt Kathy's who lives in northwest Indiana for a family reunion of sorts. It was to celebrate my aunt's 60th birthday (Happy Birthday, Kathy!). We got the chance to interact some relatives that I don't get to see very often including my Uncle Jim from Florida and a few cousins. Even nicer was the opportunity to spend time with my mom, sister, and sister's husband. Good peeps.

Please pray for my mother. She's going through some medical difficulties right now that are making life tough. She's a lifelong diabetic, and she now starting to feel some serious effects including nerve damage in her legs.

Wednesday, August 23

Reflections on the Illinoise

Well, we're now back to some assemblance of normalcy in the Cram family. We drove back to Illinois on Monday and are now fully settled into our temporary place. One thing that has been encouraging so far has been our deepening relationship with Elizabeth, our new "landlord." Like I've mentioned before, she's the mother-in-law of our team leader in Germany. She's a great lady, and we've had some amazing conversations over lunch the past few days about her days in ministry with her husband. So, many experiences, and such a broken heart for people who don't know Jesus. It makes me desire that kind of heart for people.

Monday, August 21

Reflections on Country Living

Last night we had wiener roast at the house of a family friend of Kathi's. They live out in the country on a small horse farm. We delighted in a bonfire with hot dogs and s'mores. I hate to say it, but I think I could get used to the country living. It was so relaxing just sitting in the dark looking up at the brilliant night sky having been a while since we've seen stars like that. We also spent time with their horses throughout the evening. It was exactly what the doctor order for the two of us. Unfortunately, now we have to drive back to Illinois to begin another crazy week.

Saturday, August 19

Reflections on Moving Chaos

Mission Accomplished! In the past two days we've managed to clear out our apartment, move into our temporary place, and transport most of our belongings back to Ohio. Probably one of the worst moving experiences I've ever had. In fact, it was generally a week defined by superlatives. So, I present to you our moving nightmare in the form of a superlative list.

1) Greatest truck rental ever. One of the few good things about our trip. Penske is amazing. Cheap trucks that aren't crappy and falling apart. U-Haul is lame.

2) Most Gatorade consumed in one sitting. Man, I don't think I have ever sweat that much. After we loaded up the van with all our stuff, I proceeded to drink around 4 quarts of Artic Blast Gatorade.

3) Longest travel time from Illinois to Ohio. A trip that would normally take around 7 hours was lengthened to a torturous 10.5 hour journey. See numbers 4 and 5.

4) Most rest stops visited in one trip. A grand total of 6 travel plazas. We managed to visit every travel oasis along the I-294 toll road around Chicago. We also notched up two crappy service plazas in Ohio.

5) Worst traffic jam ever! Around 2:30 we hit traffic on the southwest side of the city on I-294. Traffic was gridlocked from 95th Street all the way to the Bishop Ford Freeway. For all you non-Chicagoans out there, that's roughly 30 miles of bumper-to-bumper hell.

6) Most violations committed while operating a motor vehicle. At one point I cut someone off while merging without a turn signal and speeding at the same time. This is all topped off by the fact that I was wearing ear phones listening to my mp3 player, preventing me from hearing the guy hunking and cursing at me. All of this in our mighty Penske moving van.

Anyway, it's over now, and for that we are thankful. We hope to enjoy a few restful days here in Ohio before we have to go home. Thank you everyone who helped out with the move: Neal, Meryl, Eric, Kathy, and Betsy. You guys are awesome!

Wednesday, August 16

Reflections on Moving Time

The final countdown to our mighty moving day is now down to 48 hours. Our apartment is littered with half-filled boxes and bags full of Goodwill-bound clothes. Today I'm moving some of our stuff to our temporary place, and tomorrow I go and pick up the moving van. Thursday evening we'll pack up the van with an expected departure of early Friday morning. Needless to say I'm a little stressed with how much we still have to do. Unfortunately, we're too busy to be sentimental about leaving, so we probably won't get to lament our old apartment till next week. Please be praying that everything with the move would go smoothly.

Monday, August 14

Reflections on Wandering Hearts

Yesterday our pastor did a sermon on Titus 1 and the necessity of godly leadership. It made me realize that once we begin our ministry in Germany, Kathi and I will be leaders in this young church. I'm beginning to feel a new weight about being a missionary because of these verses. In particular, the phrase "husband of but one wife" (v. 6) struck me.

I've always been perplexed by this qualification that Paul gives for being an elder. He's probably not referring to polygamy because there is no evidence to show that plural marriages were an issue in the early church. Some think that Paul is excluding people who have remarried, but I'm not so sure of that either. So, why would Paul include this seemingly obvious qualification?

Now I'm not sure if this is exegetically sound, so please forgive me. But, I think Paul is referring not to our legal marriage status but the state of a husband's heart towards his wife. A husband can remain legally married and physically faithful to his wife but have a heart that has wandered far from her. It seems that anything can draw a husband's heart away: his fantasies, his hobbies, his job, or his friends. These things can capture a husband's heart and make him even despise his wife. The man who spends all of his free time with his model train hobby or with video games isn't a "husband of but one wife."

I'm convicted of this because I'm so guilty of letting my heart wander at times. But, part of my vow as a husband to Kathi is to cherish her for the rest of my life. I never really understood how lofty of a promise that really is. I've been asking God recently to make my heart even more at home with Kathi alone. We husbands must be on guard that our hearts not wander from our wives for the sake of our families and for the church.

Friday, August 11

Reflections on Unemployment

Today is my first day of unemployment! Yesterday it was a little saddening to leave work for the last time, but I've pretty much got over that already. It's weird looking back on five years at Trinity. I was thinking of maybe doing a top-ten greatest moments at Trinity, but I really couldn't think of anything, which is kinda sad.

This next week is going to be really busy. Next Friday we're moving all of our stuff back to Ohio and moving our necessities into our temporary place in Libertyville. So, this week is going to be packing, packing, and more packing. Kathi and I are starting to come to the realization that we're leaving our apartment soon. This is the last time we'll have our own space until we eventually move the Germany.

Wednesday, August 9

Reflections on Music Selections

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with my recent music crisis. All of your suggestions were great, and my music selection has been rejuvenated. In fact, I recently bought my first non-classical albums in a couple of years. While all of the recommendations were worthy, I finally settled on the help provided by Randy Surface and Aaron Salentine.

The other day I ordered Sufjan Steven's Come On Feel the Illinois. Randy and Aaron as well as the entire Emerging Church crowd are all ga-ga for this guy. Both Kathi and I dig his creative and experimental melodies. Usually I don't get into this sort of Bohemian concept music, but we really like it.

Per Randy's recommendation, I also bought an album from the punk rock combo Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Definitely punk, and definitely undiscovered. In short, very cool. So, thanks again everyone. For now, crisis has been everted.

Monday, August 7

Reflections on Meat Chicken

Kathi and I spent yet another weekend away from home. This time we ventured to the Great Lakes state, Michigan, to visit Becky and Jason. Some of the highlights included their screened-in porch, the new Will Ferrell movie, and a Tigers game. It was refreshing to be in a home and with people who bring so much peace and encouragement. And, it was especially delightful for Kathi because she really connects with Becky in a special way. Click here for pictures of this weekend.

Sunday we braved 90-degree heat to watch a 1-0 duel between the Tigers and the Indians. It was a little disappointing to see practically zero offense, but the nice ballpark made up for that. After the game, we drove through some sketchy parts of Detroit to find old Tiger stadium. I was able to jump out of the car and hug it. They're actually tearing it down in a few months, so it's sad to see such a great baseball icon be destroyed.

Friday, August 4

Reflections on Detroit Rock City

Kathi and I are off to the shimmering utopian metropolis of Detroit, Michigan! Poverty, urban flight, and race riots aren't enough to bring down this grande dame of American industrialism. She's still as vibrant as ever with her abandoned housing projects and inner-city casinos! We feel priviledged to be a witness to the coming renaissance of this beloved borough.

In all fairness, we're not really going to be in Detroit. We're going to visit some old friends, Becky and Jason McIndoe, who live in a suburb of Detroit. But, on Sunday we will be donning our Kevlar vests and venturing into the city for a Tigers game! Actually, it seems that the Tigers are the only thing Detriot has going for it right now.

Also, Randy and Sarah drove up from Columbus yesterday and stayed at our place. They're going to Lollapalooza this weekend in the city. We spent most of last night hanging out and laughing about days gone by...

Wednesday, August 2

Reflections on You, Me, and Lehman

Yesterday as I was slaving away at work, I received a call from a co-worker in another office on campus. Apparently, a friend from college was visiting the seminary and wanted to look me up. "Do you know a Jake Lehman?" my co-worker asked. Wow, Jake Lehman. It has been a while since either Kathi or I have seen him. So, we took him out to lunch and invited to stay if he needed a place to crash.

And crash he did. He pretty much took over our living room for the rest of the day, watching the World Series of Darts and generally giving our apartment a weird cheese smell. The picture is of him raiding our frig. I had about enough when he yelled into our bedroom at 4 am, "You guys got any grape jelly?"

Actually, it was a great time. I kid cause I love. We went out to Giordano's and introduced him to Chicago-style pizza, and inevitably we ended up gorging ourselves. Jake was breaking out into a cold sweat. Now that's some good pizza. We spent most of the evening reminiscing about our college days. It was really great to see him.