Living, Communing, and Learning here in Portland!

Hey Everyone. Figured now would be a great time to throw up a new post. Well, the past two weeks here in Portland has been fantastic! This town ROCKS! Soo much life and beauty, the people are amazingly creative and passionate about so many wonderful resonating things that have long been close to my heart. Areas of social justice and environment are very important here. There is a vibe in this place that longs for originality and authenticity unlike anywhere I've been before. I can go on and on...

As for settling in, God has blessed me with a room I'm renting that's only 3 blocks from the seminary! It's only $330/month (utilities included)! It's a six bedroom house that I share with 5 undergrad students who all go to Multnomah's bible college. Next thing to tackle is a job, which I've been fervently searching for. I've put applications in to several places that I think would be a good fit, but it seems that everytime I submit my resume to them, they inform me that the process will take a week or so before I am to hear back from them. I'm just going to keep plugging away. I trust God's timing and his provision for me in the mean time. I praise Him for allowing me to be flat broke so that I'm learning lessons in hyper-sensitive frugile money management like never before. I can now make a dollar stretch longer that I ever have before! Sweet!

I've been connecting with Imago Dei Community church here in Portland as well. From hanging at a couple of home community groups, to checking out the service held at Franklin High School, I'm super pumped about a project I'll be investing into Sept 8th. It's called LOVE PORTLAND(http://www.loveportland.org/), and just about the whole church is in on it. We're focusing in on 7 different restoration projects: five schools, a transitional home for the homeless, and HollyWood Theater. Teams of 100 to 150 people will be working that Saturday at each location from 9a to 5p to bring new life in the name of Jesus to these areas. Our home community group has adopted the HollyWood Theater location to begin interior work, to use the facility for educational tuduring programs. Please keep Imago and the community we're serving in your prayers.

As for school, I went to my first 2 classes today, Christian Theology and Old Testiment. I'm so greatful to have awesome professors teaching me God's word and bringing new life to the scriptures. I know it's not going to be easy, especially as I looked over the amount of intense reading I'm about to step into, but it's going to be so worth it.

Thanks for reading and keeping in touch. Please continue to pray for my financial situation, that a job will find it's way to me soon. I'm also looking into the possiblity of moving to SE Portland to be in community with some guys from Imago as we look at what it really means to penetrate the lives of those who are poor and hurting, to walk beside them closely while showing Christs' unending love for them.

Love ya'll

check out the Imago's LovePortland Vid below (That's my friend Clark Blakeman who let me stay at his place while I was searching for a room to rent. Thanks Clark, You Da Man!):