monkinabus: blog of derek dominguez

Little Something To Think About On Father's Day

"Leading From Within"

"A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what's going on inside him- or herself, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good." ~ Parker Palmer

The Best Thing To Come Home 2

One of the three best things to come home to. Can you guess the other 2?

The Desert of the Heart

"The Fathers of the Church were not afraid to go out into the desert because they had a richness in their hearts. But, we, with richness all around us, are afraid, because the desert is in our hearts" ~ Donald Bloesch via Brian Gross

Mellow Out

I've had a hard time slowing down recently. For the first time in recent years, I know what I want to do with my life and it easily consumes me. I'm not saying this is a good thing. I find myself thinking constantly about not necessarily things I have to do, but about ideas and passions I have to see people mobilized and being apprentices to Jesus among those facing poverty, especially the fatherless. Meg has reminded me I need to mellow out and learn to have fun again, not not be so "intense." I don't see myself as an over intense person. I don't really know what that means either.

Although I went to get a physical about six weeks ago from a new internist. As we were talking and as he was listening to me chat about what I do he stated some words I won't easily forget. "You seem like a pretty intense person. You need to keep that in check and make sure you slow down." It caught me off guard and I haven't forgotten.

So, this morning we decided to hang out with the Killes and go to the Farmer's Market here in Aptos. It's always fun to walk with the family on a nice sunny morning. At least for today it has helped me mellow out.

Maya's New Infatuation: Dishes

Aeropress: best Discovery by far this year

It just saved our morning at the hotel. Meg is a smart cookie.

Unwinding

New blog post at www.journeyintotheway.com

11 years ago today...

.....I married my best friend and "high school sweet heart." It's crazy to think we have known each other now for almost two decades. We've spent half of our lives together. I can honestly say I have always loved her the same, but today in a special way as I looked at her, the thought came to mind how I love her today more than I ever have. Wow...that sounds cheesy but it's true. She has been the most significant sanctifying tool God's hands have used to shape me into the person I am today. I'm stoked we're in this calling together in this season of life and I couldn't be doing now what I am without her in my life. And the best part about it is ,"We Have Big Love."

We have big love....

Less Than A Week

Tonight at our weekly CompassionSC team dinner and meeting Tate quietly walked up to my left side as I was talking. She whispered in my ear, "Daddy I'm going to miss you when you are in Africa." We planned on sharing with the girls later in the week about my departure. Tate is quick and as I shared earlier in the meeting about some details the team needed to cover while I was away she picked up on my planned absence.

I was caught off guard how raw my emotional response was as I picked her up and held her in the chair. "I will miss you too. I love you dearly Tate," I said. She then asked, "Daddy why are your eyes watering." I was overcome with tears as I looked into the future and thought about saying good bye as I head out to Kenya and Ethiopia in less than a week. I'm told leaving family never gets easier from those who have traveled and done this work for years now. As nice as it is for it to get easier every time, I hope it does not. It will remind me each time I leave how cherished my family is in the deepest recesses of my soul. It will make each time I come home a vibrant celebration of our love.

It's less than a week away. I'm excited. I know without a doubt this is what I'm gifted to be doing, what I was created to be have the opportunity to be living. It's also been harder to prepare my own heart than I imagined. Yet, the pain and momentary suffering does not compare to the eternal opportunity we have to impact the lives of abandoned and orphaned children, to see His kingdom come and His will being done among them. The temporary absence of leaving my family is real, but we know it is a small cost to pay for the opportunity to follow Jesus into His Way for the sake of the fatherless.

Nugget from Soren

"My mission is to introduce Christianity into Christendom." ~ Soren Kierkegaard

It all started in India...

...well not really, but a particular trajectory of our lives did. God definitely used a trip Meagin and I helped lead in 2001 to India to awaken to us how we would be moved recently to spending our lives for the sake of the marginalized, oppressed, abandoned and orphaned. A number of stories or images from our trip to India have recently occupied my recent thoughts.

I'll never forget Gracie, an abandoned little girl who turned our hearts upside down and who had been rescued from the gutters. Then there is a picture taken by one of our team members while we were in India. I looked at it every day when I had a permanent office to work from. It was taken off a billboard and asked the question, "Have you begun your incredible journey?" I always loved this question, especially as it pertains to our following after Jesus as his apprentices. In one sense, we all are on some type of Journey. As a follower of Jesus we are journeying after Him and yet Jesus is continually asking us to begin once again, into being invited to Journey into The Way. We are on "The Journey," but also continually being invited to go further, to "Journey" deeper.

Up to this point we have been on this incredible "Journey" with Jesus, but recently He is asking us to accept the invitation to begin anew in following and we are now entering into a new season. For the first time in years, as I look at this picture I have peace to be able to say "Yes, it's begun."

In the weeks to come, I'll be blogging about some exciting and significant changes in ministry and a new role I have had the privilege of accepting with World Orphans as the Director of Spiritual Formation. It's exciting times for the Dominguez Clan. I'm still leading and directing Compassion Santa Cruz, but this new role with World Orphans and their mobilization initiative called Journey117, only complements the ministry we are already called to here in Santa Cruz in mobilizing the church for the sake of those in need, the marginalized, oppressed and abandoned. We now have the opportunity to live out this calling, both locally and globally. I'm excited to share with you more in the near future as we say "yes" to being on this incredible Journey with Jesus. More to come....

Invocation of the HS

Most powerful Holy Spirit,
    Come down
          Upon us.

From heaven
   Where the ordinary
        Is made glorious,
   And glory seems
But ordinary,

Bathe us
   With brilliance
   Of Your light
Like dew.

~Celtic Daily Prayer Found muddling around in my prayer books this morning while looking to write a prayer guide for World Orphans.

Mr. Needy

The ladies return tonight after a week of visiting family in Arizona. I can't wait to see them. I'm an introvert by nature and this last week I had marvelous plans to get tons of work done and be a hermit. I did get a significant amount of stuff accomplished, but I was not ready for how lonely and empty the experience was.

I'm the one used to leaving others behind and with a new role I have with a ministry I'll be traveling even more. It was really hard coming home to a quiet and empty house. I found myself the first two nights, staying up late. My body was ready to go to sleep, but my mind and soul longed for the sounds of my bustling girls running around. Meagin sometimes pushes me up against the wall when we sleep. This week the bed was to big and I was cuddled up next to the wall anyways. The openness and space in the bed was only an external sign of the emptiness of my heart and longing for my family's embrace.

So, tonight they come home. I've benefited from having some space to myself this week to pray and prepare my heart for Africa. But, I learned once again how needy I am. I often think I'm independent and self sufficient. I'm wrong. I'm "Mr. Needy" and I'm happy for the status of controlled chaos to enter the doors of our home again soon.

Never again....

....will we go hwy 5 to get home from. We pray for those in the accident ahead of us. We have been stopped in this parking lot for two hours now. We've seen three ambulances, four tow trucks, 4 highway patrol cars, and numerous emergency vehicles go by. I wonder how much longer until we move?

Have you been introduced to Peter Rollins?

He's written The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief  and How (Not) to Speak of God. I've started both and plan on finishing The Fidelity of Betrayal over the holidays. I'm curious as to who has read his works and what you think. I'm finding him very provocative and am enjoying his books so far. I resonate with his work, his theological approach, and the questions he is asking. There is a new set of videos that were put together recently while he was speaking here in the states.

Lauds Concluding Prayer for Advent

I often pray the daily office form Benedictine Daily Prayer: A Short Breviary. The wording of the prayers usually stay with me throughout the day. Below is the concluding prayer from Lauds for Saturdays during Advent.

"Prepare a Way in our hearts for the day of your coming; let your glory shine out among us. Let your radiant beauty shine forth in our hearts, almighty God. Then the darkness of our night shall pass, and your Son's coming will show us to be the children of light. This we ask of you."

Hearing The Cries

The other night we let Maya cry for an hour straight. She was not happy. She screamed. It was not easy to listen to how upset she was. For the last week she was sick and Meagin was getting up and bringing her into bed with us to comfort her. We also did not want her to wake Tate up. Needless to say, as she started feeling better we were hoping she would sleep through the night on her own like normal.

As I listened to her cry and scream for an hour in her crib, images of children in metal cribs flooded my mind. Children who had no mother or father to hear the anguish of their hearts. Children without mothers or fathers to care for them. This isn't the first time God has brought these type of "visions" to mind. They seem to be connected to Maya in some way.

About a year after going to the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church last November, I was rocking Maya in a chair and had an image of holding a little girl from Africa in my arms. There would also be times when Maya was a baby and I'd be comforting her and I'd have these images of me comforting one of the 143 million orphaned children around the world. The next morning while I was running these words came to mind this Advent season as we reflect on the coming of baby Jesus.

            I hear her cry.
            I hear his whimpering.
            I hear their anguish.

            Banging, legs thrashing against the cold steel.
            Kicking, frenzied movement longing for release,
                    from the void they shouldn't know exists.

            I see them in their mangers.
            Trapped as "Herod's" minions seek their destruction.
            Where is their Mary and Joseph to hold them tight?

I'm not really sure what it all means. I do know I'm supposed to be attentive to it and the movement of what God is doing in my own life, where He is leading and drawing me to.