He who hears the shema drinks the shekar!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Housekeeping....

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Just a few 'housekeeping' matters....

FIRST, In case you missed the memo -- yes, I'm married....as of June 2, 2007. I'll eventually post some of the official pics (shot most-excellently by Vicky's cousin-in-law and Canon employee, Scott Jo) over at my Flickr account of the wedding. In the mean time, there are already 50 or so shots taken by my Uncle Dan, for those who haven't seen them yet.

SECOND, things officially rapped up at Covenant Presbyterian in Berkeley last July (2008). It was a great 20 months of ministerial laboring with Pastor Wayne (a friend from seminary) and the entire church. It was one of those jobs that just providentially materialized when I relocated to the Bay Area to be near Vicky, and I am most appreciative of their (paid!) support for those months as Vicky and I 'adjusted' to marriage life. The church was also supportive as I preached through some material I had been working on from Proverbs and related OT 'wisdom' books; a lot of good, constructive feedback and encouragement along the way! Vicky and I are sad that our time there was so short.

If you are looking for a Reformed, Bible-teaching church in the San Francisco/Oakland area, I recommend you check out Covenant Presbyterian.

THIRD, so what now? Well, that was a question I was praying through for 2 or 3 months last year, and it seemed like I wasn't getting a clear answer. I kicked around the idea of getting that MA/Ph.D program started in Hebrew Bible, but the timing just seemed wrong to start something that massive. Besides, I was really enjoying the regular teaching at church, and I have more than enough 'degrees' to do that! But I had real doubts about where I should best pursue those ecclesiastical interests.

In the mean time, I decided to get back in touch with my old PCA church in La Jolla, CA....just to see what pastoral opportunities there might be back in this Presbytery. That's when the pastor (Rev. James Lee) floated (in his words) "the crazy idea" of me coming back down to New Life La Jolla to work as an Associate Pastor. Naturally my curiosity was peeked, since this was my church before I moved to Canada in 2004 to start my Th.M. [It was also the Presbytery that first licensed me to teach/preach back in 2003 and still the Presbytery where I still hold those credentials.] That first conversation happened in September 2008, but I really thought it was a major shot in the dark. How was a small church going to afford to pay me anything to come back? But one thing led to another, the New Life session issued me a verbal offer to come down around Thanksgiving time last November.

So Vicky and I decided to accept the offer, and we moved back to San Diego on New Year's weekend. It was an added bonus that Vicky attened the church when it was a brand new 'mission' work while she was a student at UCSD back in the late 90's. 3+ months in, things are going great. More on that TBA!

FOURTH, I have a new DSLR camera (as of last August): Canon 40D


I'm up to about 3500 shots in 9 months. Lots of mistakes. And even more photos I need to sort. Hey, I'm working on it; see my Flickr account for those updates.

I haven't touched an SLR camera since my freshman year in high school, but I had been itching to get back into things after a long absence, especially since the new DSLR cameras have been come down in price and are turning out much better quality shots than even 3 years ago. So far so good!

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Keep your little pocket cameras for those simple family-get-together photos. But if you really want to expand your portfolio -- especially if there are kids in the mix now!! -- then getting a DSLR is a must. Email if you have any questions and I'll try to act like I know what I'm talking about!

My hope is to eventually expand things over at the Photomorg site, but so far I just haven't had the time.

Hopefully, I can get back to some posts here in the not-too-distant future. I need to get this stuff on Proverbs out while it's still fresh on my mind.

Cheers.