Little Family in the Big City: Reflections on Port O Potties, I mean, the Year

Have you ever been on a run through your neighborhood, happily moving along, when suddenly this terrible distracting urge to go the bathroom comes upon you like an unwelcome freight train? You are jogging along blissfully enjoying the changing seasons, the new shutters on that old house, or the moving shapes of the clouds when it hits you. Panic descends as you contemplate your options. You could knock on a stranger's door and hope they don't think you are a Jehovah's witness. You could sneak behind a vacant house. You could miserably keep running hoping you aren't doing physical damage to yourself. Or, having tried all the above options, I think the best is to hold out for a Port-o-Pottie. Yes, those pretty blue boxes you see at fairs, road races, and of course in the yard of that house that is finally putting on the new addition. They appear on the horizon promising hope and relief- the runner's salvation- the Hallelujah chorus should be playing in your head.

Why these thoughts on portable potties, you ask? As I went for a mind clearing new year's run yesterday I gained that special clarity that comes from being alone with the pavement. Sometimes life feels like you are just hanging in until the next port-o-potty. You feel like everything is about to fall apart and then, when you can't wait any longer, it all works out. In many ways this last year has felt that way. We decided to move to Portland to plant a church. We wondered if the money would be raised. It finally was. We wondered if we would sell our house. We finally did. We wondered if we would find a house. We found an amazing house. I wonder sometimes if the ache of leaving a place I loved will go away even in the face of a place I'm growing to love. I wonder what our church will look like this time next year. Each curve of the road has new surprises, and in the end, there is usually always a Port-o-Potty- or at least a clean pair of pants at home. Happy New Year! Here's to 2007 gone by and the 2008 yet to come.

JANUARY