an update

Please forgive my lack of blogging initiative. It has been a busy month and a half.

For those of you unaware, Mel and I have moved out of the abbey…

At the beginning of April a door was closed that would have sent us to Africa for about half the year. After thinking and praying - questioning ourselves, motives, desires, and passions – we decided we should look into buying a house in East Austin.

East Austin has been the bastard child of Central Texas since the mid-60’s. Segregation was “overcome,” but really it just remained ingrained as the white folks moved west, north and south, relegating the predominantly black population (now increasingly Latino) to the “east side.” In the past few years, the cheap land has led many developers, hipsters, and yuppies to the formally white-flighted region. Which leads us to the present situation. The drive over I-35 marks a transition from downtown to new territory. A culture clash between the “up and coming” and “stop gentrifying.” In either case, we’re a part of it. We are young white kids drawn to the only part of Austin in which we could afford to buy a house.

But we are also moving into the neighborhood, just like Jesus did and asks us to do. We feel called to bring peace, not a sword. To create community, not division. To participate in local economy, not despise it. To be white friends, not enemies. To live and walk among the working poor. To proclaim freedom to those whose imaginations have been taken captive.

We’ve been there almost two weeks, prepping the house. Heather moves in this Tuesday. Hope everyone will come and see us. We’ll be blogging communally here.

[Side note] currently reading thoughts on Citizenship, Binding, and Thinking.