Forgive me Father, for its been 4 weeks since my last post…

60 hr work weeks and endless traveling across the country and state of Pennsylvania has finally taken it toll on me. Sorry for the three of you who read this, that I have have been so lazy lately in writing. However a lot has happened in that time and I just wanted to drop a note to catch everyone up! I have been working a ton recently but that is not always a bad thing. In the down time at work my coworkers and I have been having some great conversations. Its so funny when God reminds us that everyone is asking the same questions that “believers” ask: why are we here, what happens after we die, why should we believe that there is only one real god, and can the Giants really win Super Bowl XLII?

Ok, the last one people are asking, but its not coming from the groans of confused souls since the creation of humanity. However, i have had some good conversations with people over those other topics and I praise God for chances to share truth and hope!

Politically, i was faced with a ethical dilemma! I was asked by a friend to marry his girlfriend so that she could get citizenship papers in America. Yeah, that’s right, I am not even lying. Immigration seems to be a tough topic for me. First of all, I absolutely love other cultures and the thought of many different cultures colliding in one place joys me so much. However, I am such a stickler for illegal immigration. I am high justice, i recognize that, but I am also quite a rule breaker. So my stiffness on immigration is perplexing…I mean I do think that America offers a fair way of entering the country. What makes it unfair to some is that so many people are wanting citizenship, so there must be a process to document and track these new citizens. And that is slow…and sometimes a difficult process. But those who come over illegally and work “under the table” really seem to frustrate me. In a lot of ways, untaxed and undocumented workers do put a stain on the economy. Construction companies, the food industry, and factories bank on the hiring of undocumented workers and all the while prices remain the same for the services/products those firms provide. I wish that wasn’t the case, but that is why I am a stickler for that rule. That is a huge political point for me. And so here i am faced with the option of marrying a person from another country so that they could gain citizenship. My friend told me that he and his girlfriend, just want to enter the states “the right way” (I use “” because a case can be made about fabricating a marriage being the right way…). One on hand they could just live out their student visas and fall into the undocumented, illegal status or she could marry and gain full citizenship. Obviously nothing inside of me would actually go through with it. But it begged the question, is there any way i can help my friend and his girlfriend. I told him there was no way i could justify doing that…but i will say this was the first time my hard line stance on immigration came face to face with, well, a face and a personality and a story…Again, nothing inside of me would do it. I have an amazing girlfriend that I plan to see everyday when i move to Indy in May and nothing short of a calling from God would lure me away from that. But it definitely posed new questions in my mind of immigration.

Things in life are going well. Like i said I have been working 40+ hours a week the last month, but also squeezing in time to preach at our church as well as start a small discussion group with some other 20 somethings. We are reading the Irresistible Revolution and talking about it on Monday nights. Our group is also going on Sunday afternoon to hand out some care packages, blankets and other goodies to some people in downtown Philly as well. The highlight of the last month was the 4 days i spent in Indy with Krista for my birthday. We had a much deserved date night and we also spent one of the nights going out to eat with a number of our friends. Krista let me tinker around her house one day and fix some little things that needed repair. She makes me feel useful around her house…i like that! Its in little ways like that she has captured my heart. As many of you know (and i do say many very flippantly) she is quite the woman! We both are thankful for the lessons that God is teaching us through a long distance relationship and we are both also thankful to see our hearts still mending together in spite of frustrating work schedules and other obstacles, but i gotta tell you, it will be a great day when we are in the same town for once. Cheers to that thought!

I will for sure let you know how things continue t o progress in my life and feel free to ask me more questions. I love discussions!

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