Dear Friends and Family Far and Wide:
Greetings from Shawn and Beth in Chicagoland! We hope you are all keeping warm and flossing regularly. At this time, neither of us are succeeding in either. Shawn is busy writing a final paper for his Romans class, studying for a German take-home final, and finishing up three applications for further graduate work. Way to go, Shawn, keep at it! Meanwhile, Beth just finished three days worth of dishes in less than an hour! Excellent! (check out our tiny stove; there is an equally tiny oven).
We have had some great times since we moved to Wheaton a year and a half ago. For instance, we have had many a shared dinner and lively discussion with our neighbors in the apartment complex. For a while we were able to meet weekly and we hope we can start that again. We have also been able to make a few trips into the city to visit the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum, an Imax movie, an architecture walking tour (highly recommend), and one fun night at Pizzeria Uno where we waited two hours with my long time friend Lacey and her sister April. And we can't say we haven't gotten lost in the city or stuck on the wrong freeway in rush hour traffic. Ha! But those crazy times are really the best. Like when we went to an
REI grand opening...for three days in a row, waiting in line to be in the first 200 (we were wearing multiple layers). Or, when we walked on the flat prairie path for eight miles - just because we wanted to get out. Or, when we watched a Wheaton soccer game in the bitter Chicago wind, "Go Thunder!... burrr." Perhaps another crazy thing we've done is make bread in the humid summer. How silly could we be. Speaking of food, Beth has learned so much about meal planning, grocery shopping, and weekday cooking in the last year! So far still to go, though, and for the times when we don't have time to cook or just want to celebrate, our most frequented restaurant is Chipotle! A long time favorite of Shawn's. But why limit ourselves to one place when we live in a city with such incredible variety? So forget the deep dish pizza or the toppings-galore hot dog, when you could have Argentine, Brazilian, British, Cajun, Cantonese, Caribbean, Cuban, Danish, French, German, Greek, Hunan, Indian, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese, Middle Eastern, Polish, or Vietnamese, and that is just the western suburbs. Its marvel
ous.
Then, with good food comes a need for a good gym. Fortunately, the college has a sports and rec center with a Pilate's class, a stretching class, an indoor track, and plenty of machines to keep one moving! Too bad we don't go there often enough.
It finally comes down to priorities. Have you been keeping warm and flossing regularly? Maybe not, and maybe like us (and our friend, Steve, here helping Shawn in the kitchen) you have gotten caught up with other pressing matters, like "what you eat and what you will wear". This Christmas and New Year we find we are reminded of what really matters: the gospel. We often forget that what we are actually celebrating this time of year is not just special birthday were everyone gets presents, but the incarnation of the Holy God.The penalty for our sin, and the condemnation of the entire world was placed upon him so that we could be reconciled to God. The reconciliation of the whole world begain at the ressurection of Christ, and will be fully consimated at his return. But this doctrine is not some abstract truth, as Christians it is our hope and reality. If we are in Christ we are a part of this New Creation. During this season, let's not forget our role as ambasodors of reconciliation in this New Creation by sharing the love that Christ showed us by taking on our sin and giving us his righteousness (see passage below!).
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You!
Shawn and Beth
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Greetings from Shawn and Beth in Chicagoland! We hope you are all keeping warm and flossing regularly. At this time, neither of us are succeeding in either. Shawn is busy writing a final paper for his Romans class, studying for a German take-home final, and finishing up three applications for further graduate work. Way to go, Shawn, keep at it! Meanwhile, Beth just finished three days worth of dishes in less than an hour! Excellent! (check out our tiny stove; there is an equally tiny oven).
We have had some great times since we moved to Wheaton a year and a half ago. For instance, we have had many a shared dinner and lively discussion with our neighbors in the apartment complex. For a while we were able to meet weekly and we hope we can start that again. We have also been able to make a few trips into the city to visit the Adler Planetarium, the Field Museum, an Imax movie, an architecture walking tour (highly recommend), and one fun night at Pizzeria Uno where we waited two hours with my long time friend Lacey and her sister April. And we can't say we haven't gotten lost in the city or stuck on the wrong freeway in rush hour traffic. Ha! But those crazy times are really the best. Like when we went to an
REI grand opening...for three days in a row, waiting in line to be in the first 200 (we were wearing multiple layers). Or, when we walked on the flat prairie path for eight miles - just because we wanted to get out. Or, when we watched a Wheaton soccer game in the bitter Chicago wind, "Go Thunder!... burrr." Perhaps another crazy thing we've done is make bread in the humid summer. How silly could we be. Speaking of food, Beth has learned so much about meal planning, grocery shopping, and weekday cooking in the last year! So far still to go, though, and for the times when we don't have time to cook or just want to celebrate, our most frequented restaurant is Chipotle! A long time favorite of Shawn's. But why limit ourselves to one place when we live in a city with such incredible variety? So forget the deep dish pizza or the toppings-galore hot dog, when you could have Argentine, Brazilian, British, Cajun, Cantonese, Caribbean, Cuban, Danish, French, German, Greek, Hunan, Indian, Irish, Japanese, Korean, Lebanese, Middle Eastern, Polish, or Vietnamese, and that is just the western suburbs. Its marvel
ous.Then, with good food comes a need for a good gym. Fortunately, the college has a sports and rec center with a Pilate's class, a stretching class, an indoor track, and plenty of machines to keep one moving! Too bad we don't go there often enough.
It finally comes down to priorities. Have you been keeping warm and flossing regularly? Maybe not, and maybe like us (and our friend, Steve, here helping Shawn in the kitchen) you have gotten caught up with other pressing matters, like "what you eat and what you will wear". This Christmas and New Year we find we are reminded of what really matters: the gospel. We often forget that what we are actually celebrating this time of year is not just special birthday were everyone gets presents, but the incarnation of the Holy God.The penalty for our sin, and the condemnation of the entire world was placed upon him so that we could be reconciled to God. The reconciliation of the whole world begain at the ressurection of Christ, and will be fully consimated at his return. But this doctrine is not some abstract truth, as Christians it is our hope and reality. If we are in Christ we are a part of this New Creation. During this season, let's not forget our role as ambasodors of reconciliation in this New Creation by sharing the love that Christ showed us by taking on our sin and giving us his righteousness (see passage below!).
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You!
Shawn and Beth
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
