Present Right Now

One of the things that I have adopted (or has adopted me) since getting married are some of my wife's friends that I never really met before: Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie,  Natalie Morales, Al Roker, Willie Geist, Carson Daly (we were already buddies from MTV and his talk show), Tamron Hall, and, I get a sickly feeling admitting this, Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee Gifford (but it's only sometimes though, ya know, when I'm hanging with everybody else and they show up and I just kind of linger around for a few minutes after everyone else leaves, because, ya know, they're more like acquaintances really...ummm...) Photo credit: http://www.today.com/ Yes. The Today Show has become part of my morning ritual. I show up for the news and end up staying for the fun. I mean come on, they're just such a great, jovial group of goobers to start your day with, ya know?  Anyway, the reason I'm writing this confession is to highlight the 2014 Today Show Yearender vid

I saw Christopher Nolan's new mind-bender,  Interstellar , a few weeks ago, and although it ranks lower for me on the  overall list of Nolan's films , I still found it very engaging in all of its cosmic glory. As the movie zips through much of the Earth stuff so it can to get to the space stuff (often sacrificing character development in the process), we are progressively shown that this space journey,  akin to  2001: A Space Odyssey , has a singular dominant theme beyond all of the visual grandiosity: Love. In a decisive moment in the movie, Brand, played by Anne Hathaway, declares, "Love is the one thing that transcends time and space." The transcendent bonds of love portrayed in  Interstellar  surface in multiple ways, but the most prominent connection is shown in the familial context, specifically between father (Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey) and daughter (Murph, played by Mackenzie Foy and Jessica Chastain at different ages). What was interestin

The Apostle John "The Bible is not written to you; it is written for you."                                                                     -CL Mitchell What I have often noticed about memorable quotes is how simple they seem at first, yet how profound they become as they settle into my mind a bit. This essential principle concerning biblical interpretation, uttered by one of my favorite teachers during my undergrad years, has helped solidify in my mind the appropriate way to view the Scriptures. Granted, there was much more strenuous classroom learning that contributed to my growth in understanding the Bible (doubly strenuous considering I failed my first attempt at Mitchell's class, humbling me enough to become more seriously engaged to do well the second time), but the Spirit has used this quote often in my heart and mind to give me analytical clarity, avoiding as many cultural biases as I can. Why It Matters What this slight prepositional change taug

Since it has been a good amount of time since I last posted (257 days to be exact), I figured I could pull the "I just became a dad this year" card as a good excuse this time. There will be more consistent updates and such on here (I promise) going forward, so please follow the blog and leave comments or send us an email if you would like. We would love to hear from you! Read on to find out what has been happening with us here in San Francisco! Jeremiah's first shopping cart ride! Family We received the greatest blessing of our married lives on February 4th this year, and he goes by the name of Jeremiah James Delarato! Born on January 28th, we found out a day later that the birth parents were looking for a Christian couple to adopt him, and we were excited yet anxious about being one of the few couples chosen to raise him. After answering a series of questions from the birth parents, waiting the weekend as they prayed about their decision, and finally meeting