:: Italy - Carnivale ::

As mentioned yesterday, we were in Venice during the annual festival of Carnivale, the celebration just before Ash Wednesday and Lent begin. "Think of it as Venice's version of Mardi Gras - except the only rowdy drunks were the masses of American college students. Kind of like Mardi Gras. So there were literally 1000's of people there from all over the world, and instead of beads, people dressed up. Like, really dressed up. In head-to-toe masks, paint, animal or medieval costumes. So the entire city was like a huge masquerade celebration..." Here are some of those amazing costumes - "creative" would be the understatment of the century! Enjoy.

:: Italy '09, Day 2-3 ::

[Jess and I went to Italy in Feb: Day 0 here (flight); Day 1 here (Rome)]

Friday and Saturday of our Italy trip found us in the most amazing city I've ever experienced: Venice! Truly an incredible feat of architecture, if you've never been it looks like age-old buildings just shoot up out of the water. Because, well, they do.

After arriving from our 6:50am train, we got settled and spent the morning on Taxi #1, which travels the entire Grand Canal, passing astounding scenes and ending at St. Mark's Square. Friday afternoon we took a boat tour to three of Venice's lesser-known islands, Murano (famous for its glass-blowing, of which we viewed a demonstration), Burano (famous for its lace and colored houses), and Torcello (famous for its... uh... cool old church and stone chair maybe?).

I should probably mention that while we were there during the annual festival of Carnivale, the celebration just before Ash Wednesday and Lent begin. Think of it as Venice's version of Mardi Gras - except the only rowdy drunks were the masses of American college students. Kind of like Mardi Gras. So there were literally 1000's of people there from all over the world, and instead of beads, people dressed up. Like, really dressed up. In head-to-toe masks, paint, animal or medieval costumes. So the entire city was like a huge masquerade celebration... pretty cool! (Because of the vast amount of 'em, I'll devote a whole post to Carnivale costume pics tomorrow, so check back then!)

We spent the evening enjoying the festivities of Carnivale, including people-watching, an acrobat attached to the glowing orb above, the dancing human-plant, stage plays, and more. We slept well Friday, then wandered through the Venetian markets and St. Mark's on Saturday.

We had heard not-so-good things about Venice: the smell of rotting fish, the heat, and that there wasn't really much to do. We found no truth in any of that. Timing must truly be everything... If you go to Venice, we highly recommend going during the chilly, but highly entertaining season of Carnivale in February.

Anyway, Saturday afternoon we boarded a train to stop #3, Florence. But enough text. Hopefully the paragraph aboves explain a few of the stunning scenes below - Enjoy!

:: Italy '09, Day 1 ::

Two weeks ago, I put up a first post, recapping Jess' & my amazing, whirlwind trip across Italy. Sixteen days later (oops), here's the first follow-up: ROMA, day 1!

Immediately after landing and passing through customs, we found out (only after exchanging our currency) that exchange rates are ridiculously high at the airport, then hopped on a tiny van with six other new arrivals, and zipped crazily through the streets of Rome to our hotel. We dropped our stuff, cleaned up a bit, and began our tour. We divided up our days in Rome, bookending our trip. Today was all about the ruins. So we headed out, started at the ancient forum, and spent the day seeing some of the grandest sights we've ever experienced: words could hardly do justice to all we saw, so here's a photo tour highlighting bits of our trek:

The first stop, the fountain near our hotel in Independence Plaza:

In and around the Roman Forum:
Carvings in the Arch di Triumph:
Can's remember what this one's called, but I think it's famous...
The Vittorio Emanuele Monument...
...where Jess tried her hand at artsy photography...
...while I decapitated a Roman guard.
View of Palatine Hill from the Circus Maximus:
And a couple random shots around Rome:
Trevi Fountain:
And we ended our day watching the sun set on the Spanish steps and enjoying the best hot chocolate in the world.Then we enjoyed a great dinner of handmade pasta and local wine, then headed back to our hotel - I slept for the first time in 36 hours (glorious!) and we prepared for our 6:45am train, to Venice.

More on that soon. And I promise "soon" won't be another two weeks!

:: FAQ About Leaving TCBC, 6: "Do You Regret Your Time?"

[I’m answering some questions about being asked to leave TCBC – more focused on how Jess and I are doing, etc., plus some facts for clarity. I will NOT be writing anything against Trinity Chapel, the elders, etc. – we love the church way too much for that. If you have further questions, post below; BUT if they’re potentially divisive, etc., please email me personally rather than use a public forum to do anything negative to the peace and unity at Trinity Chapel, part of the body of Christ. Thank you. **AND, this one was written quickly, w/o editing, etc. - sorry if misspellings, bad grammar, etc!]

**Click a # for part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of this blog series**
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QUESTION 6: DO YOU REGRET YOUR TIME @ TCBC?

This is a question I've been asked many times, and I've struggled with it - not with the answer, for that has always been immediate in my mind. Instead, I've struggled with the premise of the question; I haven't fully understood what "regret" could mean. But it's been on my mind for a couple weeks, so on my last day on staff, I thought I would take a stab at it.

The answer to the question, "do I regret my time at Trinity?" is, and has been throughout this process, a resounding, whole-hearted, "NO!" I deeply regret the manner in which we're leaving, but nothing in me regrets the nearly-20% of my life I've spent in this body. There are many reasons I'm sure I haven't thought of, but here are a few reasons why:

• We have developed strong, meaningful relationships: I said this in an earlier post, but Trinity Chapel has been our family! As hard as that makes it to leave, the relationships, friendships, and deep, true, unforced community that we've seen for the past five years is invaluable. We will miss some of those relationships, but while they won't necessarily be week-to-week relationships, we will keep those good friendships, because they run deeper than a "shared affinity/association."
  
• We have grown much during my time here: As I look at my own spiritual walk during my time at Trinity Chapel, as well as that of my wife, I know that we are walking out with a deeper knowledge and love of God than when we arrived. During my time here, I got better trained at DTS, discovered deep truths about scripture and theology, walked with a number of great staff and leaders, grew in my understanding of worship, I know how to lead better, and so much more. Jess and I are stronger as a couple, and all aspects of our lives are stronger as individuals, because this church family has surrounded us during the first few years of our marriage.
  
• TCBC has helped solidify my calling in ministry: on a practical level, because of the small staff and full ministry of a church plant, I have gotten to "try my hand" at many aspects of ministry. I walked into TCBC with four years of paid ministry experience, but my "niche" had always been high school and junior high kids. Walking out, I've gotten to (among other things) preach, teach, develop classes, develop teachers and curricula for those classes, oversee groups, develop structure, direction, and leaders for those groups, develop film and theology nights, host dinner seminars, dabble in recovery, learn more of the "tech/A/V" side of things, make videos, learn about websites and podcasting, counsel people, understand the college world, and develop and cast vision as we began many ministries from scratch. In short, I've gotten to experience a lot of different sides of ministry, and in doing so, have solidified my strengths, passion, and place in ministry. I have learned what a church is, and what it should be; how to lead and how not to; how to serve and how not to; how to be rely on God and not rely on myself; and so many more valuable lessons. And I wouldn't have gotten much of that without TCBC.
  
• Most importantly, we have seen God change lives: This is hands-down the best reason we are thankful for our time at TCBC - with high school or junior high students the first two years; with 12 college students in a room nearly five years ago or with the 200+ we've had the honor of working with since then; with our beloved leaders; with folks we've gotten to know and walk beside, we have seen God move in miraculous ways in "our" ministry and in our time at TCBC: depth of knowledge & love of God; living on his mission; temptation overcome; ability to study scripture; freedom from brokenness and shame; marriages restored; maturity on all levels of life; and most importantly, God has brought people into his kingdom! We take no credit for any of it, but it's been our honor to see, hear, and stand alongside God's work in individual lives over the past five years.
• And even in our leaving, we have seen God change OUR lives: Even in these final days, we have seen God working in us - we are learning what it truly means to "press on toward the goal"; to "work our our salvation" by his power not ours; to be completely broken and have nothing to rely on but God; to test our knowledge that God is both sovereign and good - seeing if we truly believe what we teach; to suffer for his glory, producing perseverance. And there is more good in this, which we're sure we'll continue to realize as we reflect and walk through the next several days and weeks. And we trust in all this, he is changing us "from one degree of glory to another," refining us, preparing us, and growing us, so that we will be better able and more equipped (a) for what he's calling us to next, and (b) to glorify him even more deeply with every aspect of our lives. And, even in the midst of the hardest time we've ever had, for that we find ourselves thanking God, praising him, and getting excited for what he's doing in us.
  

For these, and I'm sure many other reasons, we are grateful for our time at Trinity Chapel - thank you for every moment; again, we'll miss you and we love you. See you around!

:: A commercial to celebrate a worthy accomplishment ::

His name is John-Mark Day. He's not the most interesting man in the world, for that title is apparently already taken by this guy:


But John-Mark Day is pretty darn close [cue the intriguing Spanish music]...

He spends his summers with hundreds of new TCU freshmen.

An adventurous man, in just three months he will travel to London, get lost in East Texas and the Colorado Rockies, brave the treacheries of Waco, and even hit the Fort Worth Arts District.

In "two truths and a lie," he's from Kansas City, drives a red Pontiac, and has kept 100% the DTS "no drinking while enrolled" policy.

He's not afraid to get mud on his face.


But the truly remarkable thing about this young man culminates this weekend. He is graduating. Not once, but twice. With two masters' degrees. From two different schools.

Saturday morning, May 9, John-Mark will wrap-up three years at Dallas Seminary with a M.A., Media and Communication, and that afternoon, he will walk the stage at TCU with an M.A., Journalism. [Seriously, who does that?]

Congrats, John-Mark - the world needed to know. You deserve to be recognized for who you are. You are the second-most interesting man in the world.

He doesn't always graduate, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis. Two "X's." Two times. Get it? It's funny.