I've gone urban. Sort of.

Last Friday, we moved to Charlottesville, Virginia - and this town has it goin' on. Like a true urbanite, this week I've commuted to UVA via bike twice and on foot to downtown three times. I've snagged the transit schedule (a bus stop is half a block from our house) and lugged two pieces of IKEA furniture up multiple flights of stairs into our abode. If that doesn't make me a city dweller, I don't know what would.

I am so enamored with biking to work that I now greedily eye the saddle bags of every biker I see on the road. I'm getting me some, if I can just figure out what I actually need and how to find them cheap. Craigslist has been no help, but good news: Performance Bike is in town with their 10% off Tuesdays.

Now Cville is no urban metropolis, I will admit. The DCF diaspora has sent friends to Denver, Nashville, Richmond, Charleston, Seattle - admittedly, all more urban than our new home. But this town has a very legit funky vibe. I mean, two friends went to see B.B. King downtown tonight for crying out loud. This city has already captured me. Much more to come.

Walking down 5th Street the other day, I saw an elderly man with this caption across his t-shirt: "Step back and let Jesus do what he do." What's not to love?

Today was such a strange mixture of joy and sadness. We said goodbye to our church community, DCF. The whole morning was full of tears and hope, gratitude and remembering. Seth summed up his emotions Friday when he told me, "Daddy, I don't mind going. I just don't want to leave." That's says it about right.

This morning was my last time to teach @ DCF. I didn't want to dig in to a text, didn't have it in me. So, I shared a pastoral letter for the church I love. If you are interested, you can read it here.