The L.I. double-R

from 5.19

I’m on the “L.I. double-R” into the city. Running since 1844, New Yorkers climb aboard in the thousands to take the Long Island Railroad every morning into Manhattan from places like Patchogue, Massapequa, Islip & Babylon. Mine was the 6:37 train. I’ll get into Penn Station a little after 8.


Admiring the lush green from the backwards-facing train car, I reflect on Thalia’s statement last night before she went to bed. In tears, “I wanna go home” creeps out between dramatic gasps for air. She explained how at first she was crying because Jaden hit her in the head, mad after thinking Thalia stole one of his blankets. Then, after a classic Jaden apology and an “I love you” from her little brother, she began to feel sad about missing San Gabriel, school, church, friends...

I did my best to console and describe that home is not limited by house. After some level of success I let Arlene close the deal, as Moms can uniquely do. After a good snuggle session, the girls ended up planning our first visit back to California, complete with stops at all the places Thalia was missing: that’s genius-level parenting.

Maybe its just like me on the LI Double R, seeing creation’s finest through pane glass. We’re going 80 miles an hour when the dew drops & nestled, cascading streams of liquid peace are crying for hours of quality time. 3 days before we left LA I got a speeding ticket on my way to Old Town Pasadena. I was going 46 in a 30 on Colorado Blvd. Arlene & I had plenty of time...no rush to return a cable I didn’t need from Apple. Ironic that I was in the middle of a Jonah-like prayer in the belly of my leviathon-like Toyota Rav-4, pouring my heart out about submission to God’s plan, the move, our marriage. Guess I didn’t notice how my foot kept descending as my soul ascended, how the physical pressure increased as the emotional pressure decreased. Alleviation, acceleration, concentration, exultation.

Regardless of self-reflexive, rear-facing thoughts on stretched-out allegories, this train is still moving. It makes its stops but only for a moment. My only exit is at the end of the line. My ticket is 1-way and it’s paid in full. I’ll see you there.

In Process...

from 5.17

Try selling a piece of property in this market lately? Exactly. It’s not really the right time. After 5 weeks of trying to sell the house, we had over 40 people take a look but no serious buyer. Then along came the Xia family....a gift from God. After realizing we were all Trojans (both husband and wife are PhD cancer research scientists at USC’s Norris Cancer Hospital) we became fast friends. Shortly after they made an offer we were signing papers and then they came to Easter’s church service with us! We’re so excited about our new friendship with the Xia family and their new home.
It was the biggest truck I’ve ever seen. We thought 5000 pounds was a lot but then learned we’d only be filling a tenth of the truck as it makes its rounds cross country picking up other families’ poundage along the way. Our load might’ve been heavier but we went on a garage-sale-Craig’s-list-selling-spree and were able to simplify our list of possessions by almost 50%. Another half of that will go to Long Island....we’re hoping the final 25% will fit in our Manhattan apt.
One last stop...USC’s graduation. Including our own, we’ve been to 6 commencements at Troy; so we had to get the perfect 7. Yaminah, Cy & Marie made us proud as they walked across those stages getting degrees in Engineering, Business & Communication.
Each step across campus was a heavy one as Arlene & I realized they’d be our last for a long time. Places have a way of becoming sacred; halls stuffed with nostalgia, classrooms that housed our maturation, grassy hills our kids slid down, tented patches of land our grill burned brightly into game night...The Galen was stout with pride. Taper Hall nestled in the shadows of each state’s tree from Founder’s. The intramural & practice fields were their annual home to the ceremonial class of grad day, an always welcome shift from cleats & tackles. Doheny’s flowers were in full bloom and Bovard stood like a light house, guiding us east. Today, however, not everything is the same. Sample is retired, the commons we knew are destroyed & reconstructed, and Pete has moved on. We are left to interpret the signals as encouragements for our own move, be it a bit bitter & some sweet.

We spent our last 2 nights with the Fuquas. Marty made is his famous mac-n-cheese and the kids helped walk Jack & Lucy through South Pas. Where would we be without them? Fact is, there is no “we” without them.

So This Is Goodbye

In September of 2009 we got a phone call from a friend and fellow minister from the east coast. He asked if we'd ever be interested in helping the church out in New York City. I quickly said "no." I grew up in Syracuse, NY and have many fond memories of my time there but since I've been in Los Angeles I've fallen in love with the people and the place. However strong I felt on that phone call he asked me to pray about it and I consented.

Arlene was born in Jersey City and grew up on Long Island. Her whole pre-college life surrounded the big city and when she became a Christian on the west coast going to school at USC she hoped to go back and give back to the place she knew so well. However, over the years the dream seemed more and more a fantasy as life and ministry filled each moment here in LA.

Fast forward back to that phone call I had...so we gave a week to thinking about thinking about it. I actually prayed for God to take the thought away. "I didn't need a move like this in my life right now" I thought. We own a home, a car, our kids go to a school run by disciples from the church and we're surrounded by best friends and family. We lead the campus at USC, where Arlene and I became Christians and graduated ourselves....we leave all that?

But God wouldn't let it go. I couldn't stop thinking about the possibilities, everything would remind me of it and I even started having dreams about living there. Advisors in our lives recommended we go ahead and check out the possibility. Eventually we were invited to visit/interview with the church in New York City. We arrived, curious and clueless, on November 4th.

It didn't take long to catch the vision God was pitching to us. After speaking with dozens of advisors, praying & fasting, visiting again in January and testing God's resolve for a total of 6 months, we finally made our decision to move.

In Acts 20, Paul says "so long" to his bff's in Ephesus. "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me."

There are 71,000 people per square mile in New York City. In comparison, there are 8000 people per square mile in Los Angeles. There are an estimated 250 buildings in Manhattan alone. People are always out, always ambitious, always moving. It's the biggest city in the US, the Center of Culture, Politics & Finance, the Birthplace of Hip-Hop and Salsa. 170 languages are spoken there. And, a surprise to me, of the 25 most populated cities in America, it is now the SAFEST.

Despite its stacked population layers, New York City isn't exactly the social melting pot of intimacy. 50% of the homes in NY are occupied by 1 person. Out of 3000 counties in the United States, NY has the largest percentage of single-family households. 430,000 New Yorkers suffer from depression and 200,000 have Anxiety Disorders according to the NYC Dept of Health & Mental Hygiene. Also, those in their 20’s & 30’s are twice as likely Depressed than other ages. As Jay-Z says "8 million stories out there and their naked, cities is a pity half of y’all won’t make it." So much naive ambition and so many dashed dreams await. The once bright-eyed now cynical glares make the norm in this modern Gotham. We are both divinely compelled and warned about moving to NYC. We know NOT what to expect there but we do know people need help to hope, especially the young.

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship." Thanks to modern tech, text, skype, iChat, facebook, twitter (and the like) we won't face Paul's same fate with never being able to "see" his friends again. But, the distance will be challenging to overcome and so we hope to update this blog to keep people posted and connected.

We sold our house and most everything in it. So we go with your prayers in our pockets for extra strength. We wear a coat stuffed with memories to keep us warm. Our wallet is filled with emotional capital, which is the most valuable currency when traveling to a new place. Our children sport sneakers with extra soul padding from the years you cared for them like your own. Our joints swing swift and smooth as the cartilage of the body of Christ binds us as one. We thank you. We are blessed by you. We miss you already.

"After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea..."