Walking Through The Neighborhood

I took this photo a couple of days ago while walking through my neighborhood with my friend Ryan Huffman. The view was actually pretty stellar, but my photography skills with the iphone are a little lacking.

The last few weeks/months have been lived at an incredible pace, and as a result, I have not been blogging as much--if you have been following this blog for a while, you probably noticed. I had a few moments this afternoon to reflect and write (and I'm looking forward to more time for this soon--lots to say!), so I thought I'd take a moment or two to talk about an experience I had Tuesday night with my good friend Ryan Huffman.

During his sophomore year, Ryan got involved with the college ministry I was leading at the time, h2o. He had grown up knowing about Jesus and putting his faith in Jesus, but during his time at WVU, his faith became more concrete and tangibly lived out. He served as an intern for a semester with GCM and volunteered much of his time to serving within the community. I can remember many great conversations with Ryan through the years as well as some pretty stellar times of creating music in a unique band we started with a couple of other friends. The music was a mix of shawnee vocables, percussion, keyboard, and guitar.

I officiated Ryan's wedding. Not like a referee but more like a reverend--that kind of officiating. Anyway, while we've remained good friends, we kind of lost touch over the last several months. This past tuesday, we were able to catch up a bit. Part of catching up involved a walk through my neighborhood, some good chinese food, and a little bit of caffeination from the local starbucks.

Walking through the neighborhood was simply a cool experience. Sometimes my life gets so busy that I forget I live in a neighborhood. Growing up, my neighborhood was really important to me. My neighbors were some of my family's closest friends and supports during times of trouble. Kids in my neighborhood would play kickball, wiffleball, basketball, or even jump rope in our street.

Is it just me, or have we lost touch with that sense of community? Have we lost touch with the idea of presence, of inhabiting a space? Maybe our spaces have just changed, and we inhabit in much the same way we always have. It just looks and feels a bit different.

My walk with Ryan made me nostalgic though. There's something to be said for a walk through the neighborhood. Maybe, if you haven't done it in a while, you could take a few minutes today to walk through your neighborhood. Visit a friend. Call a relative. I know we are all living incredibly busy lives, and you probably can't call everyone, but maybe you could connect with one person. Maybe you can't walk through the entirety of your neighborhood, but you could walk through a few streets.

May you find a space to connect today. Connect with people. Connect with God. Connect with the space in which you live. Be present, and enjoy the presence of others.