Life at 3 miles an Hour

I've always been a proponent of cause and effect.  Very simply defined, doing this leads to that … very simple and uncomplicated.  Even though culture and an industry of ambulance chasers resists and seeks to eradicate undesirable effects (insert responsibility here), cause and effect still rule the day... unless you're trying to carry a cup of coffee between your legs while driving.  In the physical realm its fairly easy to predict and measure … in the emotional and spiritual realm its a bit more complicated and nuanced. From a human standpoint, it all comes down to choices, for good or bad.  You choose to breakup over a text, you're a looser … cause and effect.  You choose to go shopping with your significant other rather than golf with a buddy, you're a romantic.  These kinds of decisions may seem small and insignificant, but the results are noticeable and often immediate.  I get those. They are much easier to understand.  What I have difficulty with is imagining

" If I speak in the tongues [ a ] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."  For most of the past 6 years my existence has centered around what is arguably the most intense urban renewal project anywhere in the country.  For more than 10 years now this 10 block by 10 square block section of the city has been in a constant build mode that is taking place on the streets, under the streets and upwards of 40 stories above the streets.  It can so many days be such a source of stimulation overload.  The daily game of street roulette to determine which street or sidewalk is open and which ones closed became very old very quickly.  I often am driven from my office to seek sanctuary and silence … or at least a dull roar.   Personally it has driven me, against everything I've always believed about interacting with the world, to spend a good part of my days wearing ear buds or even full on headphones.  So, as many times as I

It's been well over 2 years since my last post here.  It's not that I've not been writing at all … I do have other outlets that are a bit more specific to my current role.  I just haven't been able to write here … in my own personal space, unloading and examining my own personal wrestling with faith and function.  It's not that I haven't tried.  Not a week goes by where I don't remember back to when it felt natural to process my inner thoughts and demons while chasing a cursor across a screen.  So many things have happened these past 28 months that could have, should have, and in other times would have found their way to my screen as a record of my having lived them... and yet they didn't. Some of it I'll attribute to living a certain way for much of your adult life, and then suddenly not … at least not in the same way.  Some of it I'll attribute to what I understand of conventional "writers block".  The rest I'll attribute to a