Two-Issue Christianity

Isn't it cool when you read something that is almost exactly how you feel, but you have never been able to eloquently put it in writing? That's what I thought when I read this great article that Christie passed along. May it provoke your thinking as much as this notion has provoked mine over the past several years.

Tolerance

I've been thinking a lot about my time in San Francisco lately, for a variety of reasons. As I was listening to my favorite SF radio station this afternoon on the Internet, I heard something interesting.

There is a big evangelical teen conference going on there right now, a program of Teen Mania called BattleCry. It has received some publicity in SF. Really, anything in SF is cause for a protest. (I seriously felt like there was one every day somewhere in the City.)

But as I was listening to KFOG today, the DJ said something which really caught my attention. To paraphrase: "Remember, in thinking about tolerance, we need to be accepting of those with views other than our own. And to all of you out there at AT&T Park for Battlecry, I hope you meet many of our stellar San Franciscans." The implication here is that in the city known for its tolerance of every belief EXCEPT Christianity, maybe a few people are actually beginning to see the hypocrisy in that system.

A Great Place to be Christian

This article was in the San Francisco Chronicle this past week. It's about protests surrounding a seminar hosted by my old church (Promised Land Fellowship) and quotes the pastor as well as a friend of mine (Michael Laird).

Some of you know the hostile climate Christians face in SF, and for others, this article is just a small taste of some of the issues going on in the City. I miss it, though, and think that San Francisco is a great place to be Christian.

Why? The Christian community is so small that it is a pretty tight-knit community. Also, the City really forces you to take a stand: either you're a Christian or you're not. Bible-belt Christianity ("I'm a Christian and go to church because my parents did.") just doesn't cut it there.

Updated Website

If you get a chance, check out my new and improved Wycliffe website. I just put up a bunch of wedding photos and updated the prayer requests.

Enjoy!

Rocket in the Rear View Mirror

There's only a few places on earth where you can look in the rear view mirror and see a rocket heading out to space. Central Florida is one of those areas, and this experience happened to me on Saturday.

I was heading west on the Beachline Expressway, on my way back to Orlando after an ultimate tournament in Palm Bay, when I looked in my rear view mirror to see a thick smoke trail with a ball of flame at the end of it. Cars were pulled off on the side of the expressway to take pictures. I was clueless, thinking that there was a shuttle launch that I had not heard about.

So when I got home, I found this article about a rocket launch that took place at that time.

Last summer's shuttle launch was one of the coolest things that I've seen in my life--and that was from my front yard! It's one of the few redeeming factors that I've found about living in Central Florida.

Why only 24 hours?

I often am disappointed at the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day.

To maintain an all-around healthy life, we're supposed to: exercise, eat healthy (which means taking time to menu plan and cook meals), spend time in God's Word, journal, pray, mentor someone, be mentored, engage with a church community, keep up on the latest world news, spend time with family and friends, read books, and relax.

And we're supposed to do all that, plus go to work, with only 24 hours in a day? Yeah, right. I like to get eight hours of sleep every night in order to be at my best, but I doubt I could do all of the above even if I only got four hours.

And there's also that neglected blog...

Photos Available!

A few photos from our wedding and honeymoon are available online at my Flickr site. I'll hopefully post more as we get more back from the photographer and other friends.

Bride and Groom

Chris and Christie's Disney Wedding
Originally uploaded by Chris Winkler.

No, we didn't really have a Disney wedding...and we didn't even buy these hats. :-) We found them in the store and thought they were pretty cool, and couldn't pass up the photo op. More wedding and honeymoon photos to follow soon, hopefully.

No Longer a Secret

Many of you know that I was keeping our honeymoon destination a secret from my beautiful bride...and nearly everyone else. I thought that for those of you wondering who might be checking this blog, I'd fill you in here.

We went to a secluded cabin in northeastern Alabama (about an hour from Chatanooga, TN) for about a week. It is owned by some friends of our pastor and his wife, and they rent it out to couples in ministry needing a retreat (Christie and I certainly fit the bill!). It was absolutely perfect for us--wilderness, mountains, no people around unless we wanted to visit town, good food nearby.

A Disturbing Revelation About My Fingers

My fingers are small.

This was made painfully aware to me by a man at the jewelery counter at JC Penney today. Christie and I were looking at wedding bands for me, and most of the styles come in sizes of 10 or higher. I, as it turns out, wear a 7.5. So we went on-line, thinking that there would be a better selection there. WRONG. The lowest size was 8.5.

Do I really have such small fingers that no major jeweler or department store carries a ring within one full size of my own? The answer, sadly, is yes.

(A disclaimer: plain white gold bands are available in my size, but this is the ONLY style available. We're looking into other options...)

Black Friday

For the first time in the 26 Thanksgiving Day weekends that I've celebrated during the course of my life, I went shopping on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). I absolutely needed a dark suit for some meetings in New York next week, and they were (of course) deeply discounted at JC Penney--the only store I ever shop for clothes.

I had a game plan: one store, only looking at certain items, in and out in one hour. Did I reach my goal? I got everything I needed at good prices and was walking out of the store about an hour and 10 minutes after entering. Not too shabby.

A Near (Venison) Miss

How is it that I live in rural Michigan for most of my life and the closest I ever come to hitting a deer was just a few days ago in the Wycliffe parking lot in Orlando? And not only did I nearly hit the thing with my car--I almost hit him twice.

Late Saturday night (I was working late to finish things up before a week-long trip to Dallas) I was driving through the parking lot at Wycliffe when a deer darted out in front of me. After slamming on the brakes (as much slamming as can be done at 10 mph), the deer passed and I made it out to the road and turned right. Well...the deer had turned left decided to cross the road: immediately in front of me. That thing almost got squashed twice in a span of about 15 seconds.

And oh what I wouldn't have done for a little venison stew... :-)

Still Alive and Kicking

Yes, I do still exist, and I have not neglected my blog. In fact, I think about it almost every day. Seriously. There is always interesting stuff going on that I know I should blog about, but other things pop up and I run out of time in the day. My apologies to those of who have been checking this regularly. So...a quick update on life:

I've been traveling a lot. Dallas, DC, Southern and Central California, and various places in Florida. Had a great visit with my parents, who were here for about 10 days. When they first planned the trip, it was going to be a time for them to vacation in Florida and see some of my world. Now that I'm engaged it was all that plus a wedding preparation time (they were able to see the location, meet Christie's parents, etc.). Wedding plans are rolling along, but we're looking to outsource many of the tasks to our friends. If you're interested, let me know! We already have food prep folks, decorators, and a videographer.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm thrilled to be getting married on December 16?! I'm hoping to become a little more consistent with the blog--but I've thought that before, too. :-(

Hurricane Faux Pas

I had a slightly embarrassing moment this morning at work which revealed my naïveté of life in Central Florida.

During our morning prayer time, we were talking about all the people that were traveling to Orlando for two different sets of meetings this week, and someone mentioned that a lot of the travel was dependent on Ernesto. Now, keep in mind that I'm new to the organization and don't know all of the key people yet. However, I really felt like I should know who Ernesto was, as he was obviously somebody important if his arrival in Orlando could hold up so many other colleagues.

And then after about two minutes of listening to this conversation, I blurt out, "Oh, he's a hurricane!" Needless to say, my co-workers got a good laugh out of it.

On a related note, I'm kind of excited to experience my first hurricane. It's very much a cultural thing down here--kind of like blizzards in northern Michigan. To keep tabs on Ernesto, click here.

Another One Bites the Dust

I think most of the regular readers of my blog are aware of this, but many have been asking for "photo confirmation." Yes, the rumors are true: Chris Winkler is engaged. As I told some friends and family in an e-mail, when I worked in San Francisco, my good friend Wynter and I had a running joke. Whenever one of us would receive an e-mail from a friend letting us know that they were engaged, we would turn to one another with the line, "Another one bites the dust." We would know exactly what that meant.

I "bit the dust" officially last week, when I proposed to my now-fiancee Christie Bradford (she said yes). And now, the long-awaited moment where people actually get to see what she looks like. :-) This picture was taken this week, outside of the house where we will live after December 16 (Christie lives there now).

My apologies for any fainting episodes and shock that this news may have given you. I have heard numerous times, "You're the last person I expected to hear this from!" In reality, I didn't expect to hear it, either, but it all came from God. I hope to post more about our story in coming weeks.

Rachel Lake

Rachel Lake from above
Originally uploaded by Chris Winkler.

So I promised a picture from my hike in Seattle, and here it is. You're looking at Rachel Lake, an alpine lake fed by snow melt, some of which you can still see. That's right...I actually hiked through snow in late July!

It was a fabulous 12 mile jaunt (eight miles to the lake/campground and then another 4 on this side trip up higher), a definite highlight of my trip last month to Seattle. Though I wasn't able to go backpacking with my friends, I was able to hike in to their campsite, spend some time with them, and then hike back out myself.

My whole Seattle trip was great, as I was able to spend a lot of time talking with God...and he talked back! Great conversation. I highly recommend engaging with him sometime. :-)

Apologies...

My apologies to those of you who have been checking my blog regularly only to find that, yet again, I have not updated it. In every way (answering e-mails, updating websites, sending newsletters, etc.), I have been a slacker with communication recently.

I hope (in theory) to get back to regular blogging soon. So...keep checking, and be on the lookout for a picture from a hiking trip in the Cascade Mountains near Seattle.

More Lizards

I'm sitting here in my dining room, looking at an indecisive gecko who is hanging out on the floor. I think I've blogged about these things before, but they are everywhere! I think the one running around right now is the one who lives in our mail slots (where we sort our mail in the living room). At the moment, he likes Nate's slot...I would, too, since he gets a lot more first-class mail than Jon or I. :-)

Orlando Observations, cont.

Here is another strange thing about Orlando that I've discovered: building materials are everywhere on the road.

Seriously, my roommate and I joke that we could build our own house with the random materials that are always lying in intersections, on shoulders or just in the middle of the road. Two-by-fours, nails, cement blocks, siding, etc. It looks like a hurricane ripped through Orlando and dumped stuff everywhere--but it's been almost a year since the last hurricane!

My theory is that it's the building boom happening here in East Orlando. Housing developments are springing up at an astonishing rate (most schools meet in portables, since they can't build schools fast enough to keep up with the pace of families buying new homes), and with that, comes more and more retail. And, in theory, this also brings a drastic increase in the amount of pieces of houses on the ground.

Pray for me as a I drive to and from work, attempting to swerve and miss this junk. (You know this must be a serious issue if I'm blogging about it...surely people don't blog about trivial, useless information.)

Only in Orlando (and maybe a few other places)

I recently had two "Only in Orlando" moments. Although I'm sure these things happen in other parts of the world, they seemed pretty special to our area.

Only in Orlando...

...could the most sophisticated machine of all time, the space shuttle, cause a major traffic jam stretching for over 50 miles. Hours before each of the scheduled shuttle launches from Cape Canaveral (normally about an hour away from Orlando), traffic on the three main east-bound roads have been packed solid, from Orlando all the way to the coast. Lots of people wind up watching the launch from their cars while stuck in traffic. If the launch today happens (scheduled to happen in about an hour), I'll watch it from the comfort of my own home...although I might go up on the roof to get a better view.

...would armadillos be the most frequently seen road kill. I don't know if it's migratory season for these things, but the in past week, I've probably seen two dozen 'dillos on the side of the road--most of them dead. The ones that are alive confirmed my suspicion as to why so many of them wind up as road kill: they're slow and not very bright.