About
Asher (l), Aidan (r), Ezra (below), show off the BH
My firstborn son, Aidan, calls perennial plants “the ones that come back.” Right on. And that turn of phrase is a good way to express what this blog is about.
I like writing. I used to blog here, where I become so famous that book publicists sent me Christmas presents. (That’s right, I was nerd-famous.) I also used to blog here, more or less a clearinghouse for the Crossroads Church start-up we’re part of in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Both those sites have run their courses and been laid to rest. This blog is, hopefully, a come-back. I’m trying to leverage myself back into writing.
I also like old buildings. Masonry structures especially, I am a sucker for. Show me the gaping shell of a house, made of bricks, and I’ll say, with real enthusiasm, THAT HAS POTENTIAL! (Then I’ll offer you about $5 for it.) We’re living in a 100-year-old, three-story brick house that allows us to raise four kids, be land lords, throw big parties, and constantly do construction. The walls we’ve knocked down and the holes we’ve cut in the floor aren’t expediting the process. But we’re here for the long haul, so no worries. This place, which we’ve creatively named the Brick House, is another comeback kid. I’m using it as a defining metaphor for this blog.
What the 2nd floor looked like AFTER we took down a wall & some hideous drop ceilings & sunk a couple weeks of work into it.
I mentioned we’re part of a church start-up. The people who are part of this community mostly live and work in downtown KC, like us, and meet in the Arts Incubator, a couple blocks from the Brick House. Every church is a come-back story because we follow Jesus, who came back from the dead, and who is always in the business of healing broken people who are dying for a comeback themselves.
Finally, we’re in the city center. Been here almost ten years. When we got here there wasn’t another kid to be found for miles, because most families grab their children and run as soon as they reach kindergarten age. This is a symptom of our city core, which still faces an array of problems despite the eight billion that’s been invested in infrastructure. Most every historic downtown is in the middle of a similar struggle to survive and flourish. We’re happy to be part of a generation returning to city centers, the ones who come back. Our hope is that by sticking around we’ll be part of an urban renaissance. It won’t happen overnight, but in a decade or so, who knows?
All that to say, this blog is written by and dedicated to comeback kids, including cities, sentient brick houses, and of course, the greatest Comeback Kid of them all.
} – 