Return of the Taleings

It has been a long while since I last wrote in this blog... three years have passed, and a lot has changed. Before I reboot the blog with some new content, I thought it would be a good idea to share where life has taken me!

In 2012-2013, I worked for KNOM in Alaska. My morning show co-host and I ended up winning five communicator awards between us for our spots and promotions. She alone out of the five of us volunteers stayed at KNOM for a second year. The rest of us went off into the lower 48, in various positions and to various new lives, enriched by our living together, and by our work at the station.

Communicator awards!

My position was to be a Teaching Elder (that's Pastor, for non-Presbys) for two small, rural churches in central New Mexico. Soon after submitting my PIF to the Church Leadership Connection, I received a call from the Pastoral Nominating Committee (PNC) of this yoked call. They had me fly out to preach to them in April, and I accepted the position that evening, though I wouldn't start working at the churches until October 2013.

My first blessing over the table at Corona - at the installation service!

Meanwhile, my best friend from Seminary and I started to realize that we were called to be more than friends. We dated long-distance, as she was still in Kentucky, and ended up getting engaged in September 2013, and married in March 2014 - in a city that neither of us lived in, Greensboro, NC (though it was her hometown before Seminary). We like to joke that we have the shortest time of anyone we know between first kiss and engagement - only a month!

From the wedding - we asked everyone to wear hats!

So, since May 2014, Elana and I have been living in New Mexico, putting our lives together, and adjusting to married life. It sounds simple, putting it that way, but there have been some significant challenges - including an 8-month bout with low blood pressure that kept her confined to the couch that was resolved only after realizing she was one of the "lucky" 1-in-10,000 that have a low-blood-pressure reaction to a particular asthma medication.

Recently, I've been asked by several of the church members to make the written text of my sermons available online - and I recalled that I had set up this blog three years ago! To that end, then, I will be posting my weekly sermons here - and perhaps some other thoughts as appropriate, too. I know it marks a shift in tone for the blog, but since it's been three years, perhaps that's appropriate!

Sometimes, we even worship outside!