Day One

Good morning. I have decided that I would like to start blogging. Who are you and why are you reading my thoughts? Well, let's hope that I can stay faithful to this.

I live on 9th St. in Philadelphia across the street from Hunting Park. My bedroom window looks out to a big tree that is, for the most part, perfectly round. Behind the leaves I can watch cars driving by on Roosevelt Blvd. I have been wanting to record the times that I sit here in my bedroom in the morning, coffee and Bible at my side, staring at this tree and thinking about God and life. There may not be much worth reading here, but I just want to write anyway.

I am grateful to God for a lot of things. Today is Monday. A week ago I did something that really is a new low for me. I'm not going to tell you what it was, but I was deeply ashamed and for me that says a lot. Let's just say that I tend to err on the side of grace. Perhaps a bit too much. Anyway, this tree that I'm staring at is a symbol of God's permanence. As much as I come and go, he is always there - the same as he was yesterday.

I live in a house with 4 others. I am really fortunate to have this house and these roommies. God has been good to us. I get frustrated because I have very little direction in life, I'm not married, and I'm hopelessly oriented towards sin. But I can sit in this chair and stare at a tree, read a bit of the Bible, drink some strong coffee and suddenly it seems like God is very good to me and I am not lacking anything.

So, these are the 9th Street Records. No, we don't make music. These are records of events. I love Jackson Browne and he once said, "whatever you do, make sure you have some kind of record" or something like that. So this is the beginning of my record.

One more thing - there is a bus stop right outside of my window. Just now a man wheeled himself to the bus stop. He is in one of those electric wheelchairs and his right leg is extended straight out. I've been on the bus with him before and he barely fits through because of his extended leg. I was amazed, however, at the kindness of the people on the bus that day. Several people had to vacate their seats so that he could maneuver in and out of the bus. No one complained. He struck up conversation with a couple of folks and they treated him with a lot of respect. I was annoyed because I was in a hurry and it took about ten minutes just to get him situated on the bus. Living in the city is cool.