Advent began two Sundays ago. Each of the four weeks holds a theme: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. As believers prepare for the coming of the Christ child, these ideas stand as part of the anticipation for when God himself will move into the neighborhood.

One year while teaching at Bend High, 147 years ago, I decided to ride my recumbent bike to school every day. We then lived out east of town, some six miles from BHS and the commute had its wonders, like spring smells of fresh growth, or mist rising off mowed hay fields, or stunning alpenglow mornings where I stopped and just marveled at how the mountains gleamed before sunup came to the lands below.

The other day I ran across a question while reading that made me stop and ponder. Simple, yet profound. Transparent, yet complex.

“If you had to use a single word to describe Jesus in his life and ministry, what might it be?”

Think of all the possibilities: Wise, loving, compassionate, focused, bold, and many others might come to mind. The article said that when posed that question, Dallas Willard, the USC prof and prolific writer, often on spiritual formation, immediately responded with…relaxed.

Claudia and I have been on a bit of a holiday.

As I write this we are far from home. It is just getting light, and I’m sitting at a worn oak table beside a window looking out on rolling French fields of mowed corn, harvested vineyards, nut orchards and woodlots. The November slate-gray skies and soaking rain make staying in today…inviting. And there’s close to nothing on the agenda.

Poet Jan Richardson writes these lines.

I am not asking you to take this wilderness from me, to remove this place of darkness where I come to know the wildness in me.

But send me tough angels, sweet wine, strong bread: just enough.

So, there I was, sitting in my reading chair early in the morning, tending to my knitting. My bible was open to Luke 6, cruising along, and suddenly I got ambushed by Jesus’ words from the Message translation.

Why are you so polite with me, always saying “Yes, sir,” and “That’s right, sir,” but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on.

I love fall in Bend.

Warm-ish days and cold nights signal the change I always enjoy seeing come through the door. The trees around town and in our neighborhood will soon stand out as clownish, dressed in crayon-colors of reds and yellows and oranges popping against the ever-green evergreens.

It’s pretty common when a Jesus-follower is explaining their faith to someone who has yet to meet him, for him or her to drop into almost salesman mode. Describing a faith-life can come across as living without hardship, drama, major problems and where all is rosy. On top of that an impression can be left that life as God’s child is always sweet and following his directions easy and personal faults fade.

Hogwash.

You’ve seen it plenty of times: The older man sitting on a bench by himself who appears to be quite alone, or the woman hunched in the booth at the diner slowly eating at a table set for one, or the person of any age walking down the street looking lost.

Time flies but memories hang on with lessons learned.

It seems like just last summer, but it’s been ten years since I rode my bike across the country. Claudia kissed me goodbye in Yorktown, VA and four days into the journey I stopped to see her at her brother and sister-in-law’s place just west of the Blue Ridge. On Mother’s Day it was truly launch day for this solo trip I had imagined for so long.

We sat in comfortable silence. With my longtime friend, the shade and light breeze felt just right on a hot afternoon. Neither of us were in a hurry and our conversation wandered like a pleasant stream. We talked of past adventures and future hopes, of opportunities missed and chances taken.

Last week’s blog looked at the swing of events from the Yahoo! of Jesus’ baptism to the then of his time of testing in the desert, culminating in the duel with the devil. I used the space as a parallel to our life: We are right with God, but still often kicked around the playground by trials. Lessons in the flesh from Jesus’ experiences have a way of ricocheting relevantly in any of his follower’s mind and heart.

For me, Tim Keller might just be the GOAT of modern-day pastor-teachers and authors. Gone too soon, but still impacting many, Tim’s insights and reflections on scripture provide a master class in a faith life lived well.

For 15 centuries the Benedictine monks have followed an “order” that regulates life, provides a framework on which to build, and which sets standards to emulate. After all that time, most in the order still basically hold to the original ideals orbiting around the motto, “Peace, pray and work.”

Not more than a year ago, while I worked the floor at the Habitat ReStore, a guy came in wearing an outfit that stopped me in my tracks.