New Years Eve

New Years Eve is the closest thing to a global fresh start I can think of.  By the dropping of a ball or the turning of a clock all of our sins from the year prior are absolved and wiped away. We are free to freely become whoever we want to be from that moment on.  

Each year the world looks back and remembers the highs and lows of the previous year.  2008 in particular was a year many can't wait to forget as it was a year filled with war (Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia, Israel),  economic depression (stock market crash, financial market crisis, national bankruptcy, the bursting housing bubble), and natural disasters (China Earthquake killing 70,000, Burmese Cyclone killing 80,000).  With all the bleakness of 2008, what will 2009 bring?  Will it bring any sort of change?  Can a make believe date really give us a clean slate?

Most of us will spend tonight in a room filled with people we sort-of know as we try to avoid awkward conversation waiting for the moment when the click of a clock will bring us into 2009.  Usually it means nothing.  Usually we remain the same as we were the moment before.  I want it to be different this year.  As I reflected on all of this I began to ask myself;  can I start over, or will my old habits and addictions keep me the same as I was in 2008?  If my fate and destiny are truly in my hands then I'm going to try my hardest to be a new person next year.  Here are some lyrics written by Five Iron Frenzy that incapsulate my thoughts on New Years Eve.

"It's New Years Eve and I'm full of empty promises, I half pretend to keep this time, just like last year. The band is loud and I'm wandering the shadows, wishing I was never here. I persevere. A crowded room, these whitewashed tombs, they raise their glasses high, they kiss the past goodbye. 

This New Years Eve, I'm waiting for tomorrow. My heart is on my sleeve, and yes I still believe, this New Years Eve, will turn out better than before, I'm holding on, still holding out, until they close the door... on me. 

It's New Years Eve and I feel my insecurities, are haunting me like ghosts, this sinking quicksand. And then with thunderous praise and lofty adoration, a second passes by, yet nothing changes. I hate my skin, this grave I'm standing in. Another change of years, and I wish I wasn't here. 

A year goes by and I'm staring at my watch again, and I dig deep this time, for something greater than I've ever been, life to ancient wineskins. And I was blind but now I see. 

This New Years Eve, something must change me inside, I'm crooked and misguided, and tired of being tired. This New Years Eve, I'm waiting for tomorrow. My heart is on my sleeve, and yes I still believe, in You." 

Dreaming Pt. 1

I've got some dreams.  They change from day to day and season to season, but they're always there, inside my soul.  I'm not talking about the types of dreams you have when your passed out on the couch, I'm talking about the dreams you have when you look at the world, your community, your friends, your family, and yourself and begin imagine how they could be so much better.  Often my dreams haunt me like an unresolved song that never made it through the final chorus.  I find myself itching to hear the end.  Because my dreams aren't reality yet, it feels like I'm stuck in a song that never quite finished.  Usually I'm scared to speak about my dreams because I'm unsure how to make them more than dreams.   I'm fearful that if I tell some one what's in my dreams I'll be held accountable when they don't become.  

I spent yesterday with an old friend named Nick.  We drove North a few hours to visit with a student that is very close to both of our hearts.  As we conversed and drove through a rainy Northern California day we shared with one another some of our dreams.  After the day finished I knew that I needed to dream more.  I concluded that I should write some of my dreams out to help.  This Blog will probably consist of dozens of updates and parts as my dreams evolve and mutate, and thats ok.  If only one or two of these dreams get accomplished in my lifetime, so be it.   My hope is to mark my moments of  dreaming by writing about them as a way of keeping those moments alive and fusing them into my life.  My quest is to reach deep into my soul and draw forth what's internal and imagined and connect it to physical and existing .   

Dream #1: Church

I'd like to see church change.  Don't hear me wrong, I love church.  I love the community, the message, the support, the ministry, the care, the inspiration, and the force for good that the church is in its current form.   I just long to see it grow into its FULL potential.  To me the church is like an academic, athletic, and artistic genius in high-school that's doing the bare minimum to get by.   It gets all the necessary homework done, passes with B and C grades, and obeys the voices of authority as any good student should.  This high-school kid's goal is to slip under the radar of the world while always living beneath its full levels of influence.  The church has become an institution trying to survive and fit into a world of institutions and organizations while it could be a movement of individuals serving, giving, loving, and enhancing the world.  

I dream of a church in such high demand in cities and communities for the redemptive work it engages in that people move to places where churches are whether they are people of faith or not.  How refreshing would it be if people said to one another, "I wish there was a church in our city!" or "We really need the help of the church".  I dream of a church that is first and foremost known for its work with the poor, oppressed, widowed, downcast, and lowly, not for a backwards agenda of winning more converts.  

I dream of a church that isn't focused a program, but people.  What if some of the money that was spent on lights, set design, computers, buildings, pamphlets, etc was spent on people and communities?  What if we spent more time at homes and in public places and less time in our cement and steal buildings filled with expensive and unnecessary gadgets?  What if the world saw a group of people giving on their own accord to a cause worthy of attention like hunger or third world infrastructure instead of projectors or a new sound-system?  I absolutely see the value of having a place to meet and gather as a community and don't think that this is wrong, I just think we have put our focus on us and our buildings when it should have been on the broken, hurting, needy world.   

I dream of a church that unleashes and awakens people.  How awesome would it be if the church was known for people who changed history?  What if the most influential musicians, doctors, artists, writers, scientists, teachers, and police officers were birthed by the church? What if this was the goal of the church?  Not to get people to attend the service, but to awaken the divinely creative heart inside every individual.  

I dream of a church that people take seriously.  One of the problems in modern church culture is that people have accepted the state of church.  Millions experience church as a place you go on Sunday mornings instead of a counter culture movement to engage in.  What if everyone who was connected to the church was personally invested in the vision of being a redemptive force?  What if the church valued the contributions of its parishioners instead of just keeping track of attendance?  What if each member had a role and a stake in the church?  What if church wasn't seen as an hour on Sundays, but as something to be lived out every single day by being transformed and transforming the world? 

I could write pages and pages of descriptions of the church in my dreams, but what I really want is for this church to be.  I long for us to step out of the mundane average life we have been leading and into the exciting calling of becoming the hands and feet of Jesus on Earth.  Basically I dream of a church that can actually give the God of the Bible a name He's worthy of; His hope, compassion, justice, mercy, and abundant love.  See I believe the church is the greatest hope in the world, capable of endless healing, reconciliation, and peace-making.  We're just not there yet.  I find myself often caught up imagining a how it could be and dreaming about when it will be.  The question that remains is whether we can reform our current churches, or if  we are being called to create a brand new church, the one so many dream of. 

Sorrow is True

Two weeks ago I was seriously distressed by a news story I heard on my favorite A.M. radio talk program.  That same evening I came across the same story on the evening news.  The headline described a boy from Tracy who had been held against his will and tortured in a quaint neighborhood in his suburban community.  At some point, some how, the boy escaped and found his way to a nearby gym, probably the closest place with people.  Once inside the fitness center the employees couldn't believe their eyes.  They literally thought it was a joke.  The boy was shackled, hungry, and weathered.  Once workers understood the urgency of the situation, the local authorities were notified and the proper steps were taken to locate the boys' guardians and implement some sort of justice.  As I processed this story I reflected on the gravity of the boys mental, phycological, physical, emotional, and overall suffering.  Why does this stuff always seem happen? Will he ever be able to fully heal?    Will he ever be normal?   How could some one do this to some one else?  Why does our world suck so bad? 

 

The horrible truth is this:  Our world will always be filled with these stories. Humanity in its current frame is a forever long song of sadness sung from the hearts of both widows and thieves.  Our relentlessly insecure self worship has written a story through history that is overflowing with regret, shame, and disappointment. And it never ends.  Every year countless instances of human pain are documented and cataloged in the annals of infinite suffering that is our legacy.  

I bring this up because I'm beginning to sense the depth of our state of sorrow both internally and communally.  I feel like my hand has touched the cold surface of an iceberg that stretches miles beneath the surface of the ocean.  And in contrast to my last post, I've begun to become joyless in context of my relationships to God, people, and myself.  I'm disappointed with the details of life that describe a reality where nothing ever seems to get better.  I'm burnt by people who constantly make decisions that lead to deep regret.  And I'm often filled with shame when I think of the man I could be and compare it to the man I am.   I'm processing what it means to reconcile what my heart says the world could be like and what the world in reality is like.  

Part of my questioning and struggling in this issue has been the result of a student I had named Josh.  I met Josh when he was in seventh grade.  Josh grew up in numerous meth-houses where watching him mom get taken advantage of was a regular occurrence.  He was fully accustomed to violence, abuse, and addiction.  His school record was marred by expulsions, fights, and failures.  His heart was full of unimaginable brokenness and sorrow.  I'll never forget dropping him off at a house he shared with his mom and a dozen other druggies.  The garage of the house had a large city sign notifying the neighbors of the  home being condemned by the police.   Josh had it hard.  My response as a youth worker was to offer my time, finances, support and love to Josh as much as I could in hopes of easing his sorrow. 

After years of endless crisis', prayers, and heartache a solution to Josh's situation seemed to finally present itself to us.  A welcoming family offered to take Josh into their home and provide for him the safety, stability, and help he never had.  It was nothing short of miracle.  It seemed like our hopes were met as he started a new chapter in his life.  Unfortunately this solution was short lived.   After a few months Josh decided to go back to his mom whom he had admit-tingly described as addicted to drugs and unfit to parent. My attempts to talk him out of going back to his mother were futile.  Years of pouring emotion, spirit, time and energy into helping Josh were instantly erased as he chose to throw it away.  I was and still am devastated.   I don't understand why Josh has had to experience the life he has.  I'm saddened that no matter how hard I tried to help I was powerless to make a lasting impact on the iceberg of Josh's situation.  I'm filled with sorrow when I think of the pain he still feels and I wish with all my heart that things could be different, but they can't.  

I feel that most attempts to explain our state of suffering in theological or philosophical terms as a result of sin, selfishness, or desire are patronizing and fall infinitely short of the infinite truth a person experiences when they are filled with true sorrow.  How can you tell a kid who lost his parents that it shouldn't have happened, that it wasn't in Gods plan, or that everything is going to be ok?  How can any short and contrite response to suffering every fully address the issue?  How can a theological explanation ever actually bring comfort to wounds so deep?   In my wrestling I've been reminded that Jesus suffered.  He did not avoid it or try to explain it away.  He lived in it and experienced it to a depth I never will.  Why would God allow his Son to experience such a degree of sorrow?  Why does sorrow never end, even in our most noble attempts to bring an end to it?   How am I supposed to respond to constant fatigue and an endless uphill battle against this sad reality?  

I just don't understand what I'm supposed to do with stories like that boy from Tracy.  I'm confused with how I'm called to help people like Josh.  I hurt and cry over my depravity and the worlds'.  I don't get why people I love have to suffer.  I'm constantly horrified by stories of human exploitation from around the world.  And I'm terrified of my own inner darkness.  I just don't get it.   Maybe thats the point.

I think that Sorrow is True.  It is inescapable and insurmountable.  I think that the sooner we accept it, the sooner we can decide how we will act in leu of this realization.  We can either let the storm of sorrow and suffering stop us dead in the water, or we can accept it as the weather conditions of life and do the best we can to navigate home.  I don't think I'll see an end to sorrow and suffering in this life, but I don't know what else to do with my time on earth besides trying to chip away at the iceberg.   It's just so tiring.  

"Sometimes when I lose my grip, I wonder what to make of heaven

All the times I thought to reach up

All the times I had to give

Babies underneath their beds

Hospitals that cannot treat all the wounds that money causes,

All the comforts of cathedrals

All the cries of thirsty children - this is our inheritance

All the rage of watching mothers - this is our greatest offense"

-Dan Haseltine

Middle School Humor

Sometimes life is way too serious.  I love reading and exploring the world of news and international events but on most days headlines are usually filled with an infinite amount of crisis', catastrophes, and collapses.  Don't get me wrong, I think its crucially critical to be aware of the stark reality of our world and its inhabitants; I believe we need to know what's wrong in the world so we can engage in finding solutions.  I just think that we need some balance.  I think the human experience is filled with both depravity and beauty (Eugene Cho), both life and death, and both laughter and sadness.  For me I often get too entangled in one side of this emotional spectrum.  Thats why I love being around kids.  To an early adolescent the worries of todays news headlines mean about as much as what the Prime Minister of Ethiopia (Meles Zanawi) ate for lunch last Thursday (probably some Tibs washed down with some Tej).  

This bring me to my point.  Whenever I converse with middle schoolers I am reminded of human nature, that at heart we just long to have fun, love, and be loved.  Most discussions I have with my students are about current movies, bathroom jokes, sports, and jr. high drama.  My immersion in their world balances my strung out, worried-about-everything natural outlook.  Today I received an email from my friend Adam, who works with kids too,  titled "Middle School Humor".   Attatched was the following picture.   

I know it may seem silly, but the students in our group would LOVE it if I could pull off getting a tiolet-shaped drinking fountain for them.  Lately I've been reminded why I love kids, because within me lives a child who wants life to be simple again.  He yearns to spend my days catching reptiles, making fart jokes, and hanging out with friends.  It feels great to be brought back into that world every once in a while because it provides us more depth to our endeavors for justice, peace,  and advancing the good in the world.  When I hang out with kids I am reminded of the redeemable qualities within every human being.  That within everyone, no matter how torn and tattered, dwells a young person that just wants to have some innocent fun.  

What gives you balance?  Are there things or people that can disarm the adult, responsible, worried, and stressed out You and call forth the child, fun loving, simple minded, and care-free You?  I think both realities are healthy and full of Truth and my goal is to have a healthy serving of both perspectives.  Take time to notice the kid within other as well, and as you do, you may begin to understand that at the core of every individual is the same kid-spirit. Discovering this quality makes loving others, even enemies,  much more natural.  Celebrating this trait within yourself can excite a fresh thirst for joy.  

If you could use a dose of laughter today, watch this video, it gets me every time:

Harmonies, Sound Waves, and Human Emotion.

(Photos courtesy of Jeremy Hohengarten)

Last night I went to a show.  The show was put on by a couple close friends who started a really amazing folk band called Ivory Owl.   If I had to sum up the evening and their performance in one word I would call it inspiring.  Their music was an artistic expression of harmonies and deeply emotional, captivating stories.  It was beautiful.  

As I was sitting, enjoying, and listening I got to thinking and questioning.  Why does music stir our spirits so incredibly much?  Isn't Music just random sound waves flying through the air that follow patterns of vibration  resonating with other waves that are faster or slower?  Isn't music pretty much just the by-product of things hitting other things?  Like a guitar pic hitting the strings or a piano hitting its chords? Who made the rules for this invisible structure of sound waves?  Why does it even exist?  Why can it pull at my soul like its typing on specific inner buttons intrinsic to all humans.  Its like we all have a gears inside of us that can only be powered up and turned when music has awoken them.  What is the purpose of this biological response to these invisible matter-less sound waves? And what does their existence imply about life and reality?   Music is such a mystery to me.

The songs that were preformed last night told stories of people and characters that were in life moments so epic and profound that endless poetry, literature, and artwork could not fully depict the depth of imagination, emotion, and discourse that was sung about.  The only describable way to explain it is by calling it indescribable.

One song told the story of  an astronaut husband who was trapped in orbit around Earth and kept alive by his space suit.  Josh sang of the mans deep longing to see his wife in the midst of his everlasting state of limbo.  Every-time the astronauts orbit passed over North America, specifically California the man would remember his beloved.  As his hair grew in front of his face and his will to live faded away his loneliness grew exponentially as the days, months, and years passed by like leaves falling from a tree in the fall.  After Josh made the case for the astronaut Erin sung of the women left to her lonesome back home on Earth.  If this sounds trite hear me out, the pure raw love belted out in this symphony of acoustic guitar and vocals immersed the audience in a tidal wave of the couples depravity.  As Josh and Erin played they brought the astronaut and his wife to life in my heart in a very sincere way.  I've only experienced this kind shared emotion through music.  And this it my question: Why can some things only be communicated in song? 

To me music speaks about the mystery of the eternal, the divine, and the spiritual pursuit.  I can think of no other explanation of why music exists other than to give us a language and form of expression from which to communicate the things that are impossible to communicate.  I get excited when I hear Heaven described as a place of endless song because to me the most grand and honest moments in life are when I'm captivated by the emotion and revelation of a reality that my soul can only understand in song.   Every human being has a sense of real emotions, like the death of a loved one, the joy of a newborn child, and the awe of standing before nature.  In my experience I can never do those emotions justice when I'm attempting to verbally communicate them to another.  When I try to describe the feelings I've felt when I lost a loved one I've always fallen short.  Its like trying to detail for some one the vastness of an ocean when all you have is a cup of water.  My everyday language skills are stunted and frustrated when it comes to describing the truths inside my heart of hearts.  I think that's where music comes into play.  The emotion of certain songs seems to scratch away some the veneer of our souls.  Music is a language and its a mystery. I'm beyond thankful to have the privilege of knowing some amazing musicians who can carry me away on the vessel of their art and to have had the experience that I had last night, an inspiring and spiritual session of pure art.

Take time to enjoy and ponder the mystery of music.  Ponder the mystery of why certain words put to a certain chords bring joy, reverence, or sentiment.  Enjoy the illogical response your body has when a song breaks into the chorus because the things that are being evoked in your soul go beyond words and can awaken the eternal within, the part of humanity than can only be explained as spirituality.

If you want to check out Ivory Owl go here:  www.myspace.com/ivoryowlmusic

What do Will Ferrel, Tila Tequila, and Jim Carrey have in common?

They have all contributed their fame to furthering the cause of the Burmese citizens.  

In case you haven't heard about Burma and the plight of its people check out these videos.  They are put out by the U.S. Campaign for Burma.  

www.youtube.com/user/uscampaignforburma

You need to know.  Don't waste time living naively like this stuff isn't happening.  As surprising as it may be to our commercially driven-consumeristic-happy-go-lucky society, our world is filled with devastation and suffering.  What will we do about this stuff?   Will we change anything?  Check it out, especially if you have free time.  I can't think of a better way to spend 20 minutes than making yourself aware of this crisis.

www.uscampaignforburma.com

My House in Cities

No matter who you are I'd bet you have some sort of home.  I'd also bet that within that home are different rooms that each have their own unique personality, character, and sentimental value.  For me the family room, kitchen, front porch, and bedrooms all have different identities that relate to me in specific ways.  The Family Room is for entertainment, fun, and gathering.  The Study is for contemplation, work, and intellect.  My Bedroom symbolizes my personality, hobbies, and history.  Each room in a house can describe a different component of who I am.  What if we took this metaphor and applied it to larger spaces in the world like cities?  Could different cities portray certain elements of my being?  Just for fun I'd like to analyze a few of the most important cities to me through the metaphor of a house.    See, I've always loved cities for all their historical, cultural, and demographic uniqueness and every time I enter the space of a new population I'm constantly sifting through the atmosphere to better understand the specific personality of that city.  This is my attempt to categorize the cities that make up my home.

San Francisco The Front Porch

The city by the bay has always been a place form coming and going.  Historically it was the gateway to the west with its grand GoldenGate Bridge beckoning travelers inside like the welcome matt you read as you enter the house.  The scenery of The City with its towering buildings, stringed and ornate bridges, and relaxing piers and ports reminds me of a big southern home with a large front patio that calls for me to step under its over-hang and relax in a rocking chair behind the fence and support beams that hold up the second floor.  

Along with being the point of embarkment for America, San Francisco is also the place of constant coming and going.  I've never been to a city more transient than SF.  Immigrants come and go, natives enter for a time to work, and tourists just come to see the bridges, cable cars, and liberalism.  San Francisco is in affect is like one big porch that welcomes travelers with romantic history and dramatic scenery but lacks the homeliness of the other parts of a house making it a city of visitors not inhabitants. 

 

Seattle The Study

Few cities posses the coziness that Seattle does.  At least that I've been to.  Seattle is a town filled with spaces to sit, read, think, and avoid the rain.  Coffee shops have made this city famous, but behind the caffeine veil is one the most intellectual cities in America.  Over fifty-one percent of residents in the Emerald City have bachelors degrees ranking it the mosteducated major city in the States.  Every time I visit this northwestern city I'm so captivated by the bays, bridges, mountains, vegetation, sky, and skyscrapers that I long to sit in a coffee house and ponder the mysteries of humanity while wearing a warm sweatshirt and drinking a mocha.  Seattle is the study of my house beckoning me to learn, question, and create.  

Berkeley The Kitchen

Every house has a kitchen, a place where ingredients, flavors, and smells mix together. Each recipe is a unique combination of different elements that create an appealing edible masterpiece. Berkeley is the epitome of cultural meshing and mixing.  A walk down Telegraph will fill your senses with hundreds of dialects, a tidal wave of different cooking aromas, and a near-uncomfortable level of different ideals.   For me Berkley has it all; ethic food, American food, cheap food, not-so-cheap food, great coffee (Peet's), and more than enough restaurants to keep you busy for years.  Berkley feels like a comfortable kitchen from which to retrieve a wide range of food and culture.  If my house was made up of cities, Berkley would be my kitchen.

The Tri-Valley My Bedroom

For most people their bedroom is a personal sanctuary.  Its the space they can not only decorate and make their own, but also it's a space where they can get away from it all.  Growing up my rooms have always been a space to reminded me of the events in my life that made me who I am.   The Tri-Valley is the place I grew up and the place where I currently rest my head.   This humble abode is where the most significant events in my life have shaped and formed me.  Its where I met Jesus, where I graduated high-school, where I met most of my close friends, where I hit my first home run in little league, where I learned to play guitar, where I grew close with my family, and where most every other important detail of my live has occurred.  The Tri-Valley is like a bedroom that I have  personally decorated and adorned with a wealth of stories and friendships.  Whenever I go out for coffee or a movie I see friendly faces and recognizable scenery that remind me of meaningful occurrences.  The Valley is familiar and comfortable like the first steps taken into a welcoming bedroom after a long and stressful day.  

  

Los Angeles  The Family Room

In our culture entertainment seems to be a priority when designing a house.  Its almost as if a home is not complete without a sweet entertainment center.  If the rooms in my house were made up of cities Los Angeles would undoubtedly be my family room. LA is the home of Hollywood, Disneyland, Universal Studious, Santa Monica, the OC, Huntington Beach, USC, and countless other entertainment options that I have frequented in my lifetime.  Family rooms are often the escape-from-reality room of the house.  It's in the family room that you can relax, kick back on your lazy boy, forget about the worries of the world and watch a movie with friends.  Just like the family room, Los Angeles is the escape-from-reality city.  

Everything is facade in LA; the water is shipped in, the palm trees are transplanted, the Chinese food is American (PF Changs), the movies fictional, the people plastic or photoshopped, the theme parks designed and imagined, and the beaches swept clean.   I'm not saying LA is evil I'm just describing the reality of the city, that the point of LA is to escape reality by creating a refuge of the perfect west-coast lifestyle.  To me the family room is the place to go to get away from it all and if there was one city that had the identical function in my life it would be Los Angeles.

 

Oakland The garage

If San Francisco is the front porch of the Bay, Oakland is the garage filled with useful but not-so-glamorous buildings and structures.  This East Bay metropolis does have it's scenic spots, but for the most part its filled with buildings and neighborhoods designed for industry and practicality not beauty.  Oakland is home to the fourth busiest port in America as well as countless other where house based business.  Its also home to the Oakland A's, Golden State Warriors,  and the Oakland Raiders making it a frequented city for sports fans with a taste for hard-nosed, low cost play.  The walk over the cement bridge from Coliseum BART to the Oakland Coliseum is surrounded by aging low-income housing, polluted rivers, barbed wire fencing, abandoned auto lots, and plenty of concrete structures.  Oakland reminds me of a garage that the man of the house disappears to when he needs to lift some weights, drink a beer, and listen to the game.  Its not a pretty city but its got personality.  If Oakland was a room in my house it would absolutely be the garage filled with useful tools, car parts, a weight set, and some professional sports posters.   

Yangon, Myanmar Siblings Bedroom

Growing up the one room that was off limits was my sister's room.   To me her bedroom seemed like some foreign  land I knew little about.  What's so interesting is that my sister has impacted my life tremendously, but I didn't know much about her growing up.  Sometimes I would sneak in her room while she wasn't home and stand in awe of the bizarre objects that decorated her shelves and walls.  Just like my big sisters room was off limits, foreign, and yet incredibly important to me, the city of Yangon, Myanmar is legally restricted, culturally opposite, and crucially meaningful to me.  Myanmar is a Buddhist nation that has taken legislative action against my fellow Christian brothers and sisters.  Over the past five years I've been privileged to explore this interesting nation and meet some amazing native church leaders.  We've connected our church in America to theirs and offer our support as best as we can.  As a result my experiences in Myanmar, I have changed as a person tremendously.   I find my mind constantly occupied with latest news from Yangon, the capital city, as I eagerly await the time when I get to see my family again.  To me Yangon is like my sisters bedroom, it's foreign and off limits but still incredibly close like only family members can be.  

So thats my house in cities.  From time to time I may add another room or alternate cities depending on their significance at that moment.  Whatever city I am in I love exploring it and becoming increasingly aware of it's uniqueness.   It makes me appreciate the world and notice details about places I often take for granted.  How about you?  If your house was made up of cities which city would be your kitchen, your bedroom, your family room and why?  What rooms would you add?  Make the world your home and explore!