For those of you that wondered if I died, I didn’t. I’ve been busier than usual (which is saying something), and I’ve also been doing more fun activities than normal (which I often pass up because of previously mentioned busy-ness). )

Here’s a small selection of what I’ve been up to lately.

Flying in a new friend’s small airplane:

Another friend’s 50th birthday party:

Racing somewhat high-speed go carts:

Shopping for and purchasing an electric guitar (not this one):

Riding the Seattle Ducks (amphibious city tour):

Getting very foreign currency as change at McDonalds:

Rollerblading with my favorite middle sister:

And… riding to the top of the Seattle Space Needle for dinner and pictures

I love having a camera phone (for the first time in quite a while), but I’ll bet you can tell the difference between the pics I got with that and the ones I got with my DSLR… )

What have you been doing lately? ) Oh, and does anybody recognize what country that coin is from? I’m curious.

Aside: I’ve been attending this church that my friend Scott (who also moved here from Michigan) found and joined a few months before I came to Seattle. I think it’s the first time I’ve gone to a church – at least so far as regularly attending goes – that believes in predestination (along with the other four points of Calvinism). That’s been a little different for me in some ways, but it’s also been good in that it helps me look carefully at what I believe and why. Ok, so maybe this paragraph is mostly an explanation of why I’m attending Mars Hill in Seattle – for my friends who are familiar with my background in the more Pentecostal side of the church. That said, I love the people and the music here, and I’ve also gotten loads of very solid teaching. Mark Driscoll is a great guy. Also, Mars Hill Church does a great job of focusing on the things that matter: Christ, the gospel, loving and connecting with people, etc. They’re also super-cool and trendy and make great use of technology… )

Anyway, all of that just to recommend the sermon from last week – available to you by way of streaming video from the Mars Hill website – at least until they take it down to make room for other content.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/sermonseries/religionsaves/week_07.aspx

Mark addresses four categories on this topic: arranged marriage, courtship, secular dating, and Christian dating.

He specifically addresses guys with ten points on this whole topic and does the same for the gals. He talks about the importance of investing in a relationship with someone who is compatible in many ways including topics such as: physical, mental, interests, emotional, spiritual, outlook on gender and family, character, lifestyle expectations, etc.

I think he makes some very good points. Check it out if you get a chance… I’d love to hear your reactions, responses, etc. )