Boston Bound...

Carol and I are zipping up to Boston Friday - Sunday morning for ENC (Eastern Nazarene College) graduation. If anyone is around and would like to hang out give us a shout.

We have one student graduating. She was one of our first students when we came to Bel Air who we felt like we had an influence on. We're so excited for her and proud of her. Next year we'll have quite a few graduating from college, which makes me officially feeling really old.

This all has got me thinking about the legacy we leave. Perhaps one of the most important and defining things that I hope this emerging church movement/network/collaboration produces is a long term commitment to relationships with others. I hope that somehow we're able to invest in people over years and decades, more than just months or classes. Perhaps this long term view of relationships (though perhaps not programs or organizations) will be the best story told by this change in culture. I sure hope so.

Of course there are a few stumbling blocks to get in our way. People and families are more mobile than ever before. With a growing choice of communication options, its easy to loose sight or sound of others. Of course our own busyness and full lives add more than their fair share to the struggle.

And there are some windfalls for us in this time to stay connected and in touch - cell phones that reach around the world, blogs, instant message and email can keep us almost in real time, and of course there's web sites and other information outlets that can give us a peak at one another's world(s). Whatever the case, my hope is that we are building a legacy of good and giving relationships.