Other Voices, Other Rooms

Life is good. However, my life is in flux and I’m not sure I like it.

I have a couple of friends who are very into being “unsettled.” They use the term primarily to describe their faith, although it describes the rest of their lives just as accurately. It refers to a constant state of discontent, of striving and pressing for bigger, better, higher and deeper. It’s an interesting concept – biblical, even – but it’s not my style. I am a creature of habit and over-planning. Like most natural phenomena, I am in constant quest for equilibrium and stasis.

Right now, my new house is very unsettled. It doesn’t look like it’s going to look. With my brother staying with us, the line-up isn’t what it’s going to be. I don’t have bedroom furniture, so most of my stuff is not where it’s going to be. We’re still working out daily schedules and feeling each other out. We have to decide how kitchen and bathroom drawers and cabinet space will be used. I’m still trying to find the quickest route to work. So much is up in the air, and my obsessive-compulsive Spidey sense rarely stops tingling.

Several times a day, the chorus of Switchfoot’s “This Is Your Life” plays in my head. It’s as if it is confirming that, regardless of the temporary flux, my reality has permanently changed or at least relocated.

What I do know for sure, so far, is that God has answered my prayers and given me awesome housemates and a great house. I can already feel him building relationship and ministry through the situation. I can feel him growing, stretching, and testing me.

I’m excited to see what he has in mind for us and the house. And I’m curious to see the ripple effect that this decision will have on my destiny, like a kid on Christmas morning. God’s plan is a weird, wild, exciting, and sometimes disconcerting, thing.

House Warming

Today I took one of the most amazing showers of my life, in part because it was in my new house. I was a little wary of the jacuzzi tub/shower combo (I'm not a bath person), but I have seen the error of my ways. It was indicative of the rest of my experience with the new place. It's still a little foreign - it will be a couple of weeks before I can get dressed without being completely disoriented, because everything is not where I think it should be.

It's been great. The place is awesome. I've had it to myself everytime I've been in it, except for the omnipresent repairmen. I'm excited to have such an attentive and responsive landlord. It's a nice change.

I'll write more as it happens. My housemates move in tomorrow and I still haven't slept there. So all I can say is it's beautiful and full of boxes. I'll have to post some pictures.