iPoem by TJ Hill

you are my Magic Hour when I'm feeling Ansel
you Brighten me up when I'm ready to hit cancel.
you are my Amaro when I'm desaturated as Inkwell
you help me fix my eyes on heaven when I'm going through hell.
you're as fearless as Kelvin, hip like Nashville
a warm filter in a world that's way too chilled.
you're a gold coin in Hanging, my inspiration in Scramble
you occupy my mind while those stupid app advertisements ramble.
your voice is more soothing than a Sleep Cycle wakeup
you're prettier than a photo after a ShakeItPhoto shakeup.
I'll be your applecare if your screen ever shatters
nothing is too big for us to face cause we have what matters:

iPhones! ...uhh....I mean... LOVE!

used office furniture

At work we buy some of our furniture from used office furniture warehouses. You know, whiteboards, room dividers... nothing you really have to sit on. The first time I went to the warehouse a few months ago, I was checking out some whiteboards and a filing cabinet. I read on the website that they opened at 8, so about 8:15 I pulled up to the abandoned lot surrounded by a chain link fence in the middle of nowhere. I wandered for a minute, not finding any open doors. I called the number on their website, only to be greeted by a customer service rep in Phoenix. I explained my situation to him, he called Rick (the guy who runs the warehouse in Orange County) and Rick runs out of the warehouse apologizing that he forgot to unlock the doors.

Rick is a middle aged man, wearing a Hawaiian shirt halfway unbuttoned and a gold chain. He proceeds to take me around the enormous warehouse trying to sell me conference tables and office chairs. There is a stray dog wandering the premises, which is the only other sign of life.

A few days ago I had to go to the warehouse for the second time. I knew what to expect, so I called ahead and made sure Rick was there and ready for visitors. When I arrived, the same stray dog saw me pull up and decided to run at me full speed. I screamed and a guy unloading a truck in the distance laughed and continued about his business. I walked into the warehouse where there was a lady cleaning conference tables, but no sign of Rick. I asked the guy unloading the truck if he knew where Rick was. "Come, come, I show you," he told me, and we walked back inside to find a still empty office. He yelled for Rick, and a voice came out of the men's restroom, where the door was open, revealing 3 stalls inside. "Be right there!" Rick responded. I sat awkwardly on a nearby couch which faced the door Rick was about to emerge from. Toilet flush...wait...wait...no more sound. No running water. Rick walks out, takes the check I had come to drop off and sticks out his hand. What was I to do? I cringed slightly, shook his unwashed hand, and ran out to my car laughing to myself and avoiding the dog. I reminded myself that in India, I touched a lot of left hands.

"one of these things is not like the other" or "me and the jewish deli"

The owner of the company I work for flew in from Panama yesterday to meet everybody and see the office. I was in charge of the catered lunch, which was ordered specially from Kosher Bite Deli in Laguna Hills. (Because the boss is Jewish and keeps kosher. When the guy who is paying your salary asks for no cheese, you do not get cheese, everyone!)

So I walk into the deli that I called a few days beforehand (the woman on the phone kept calling me baby and honey), and no one is behind the counter. I take a quick glance at the room and I am met with 10-15 pairs of staring eyes. Everyone is sitting at a table as if they know exactly what is going on, and I have disrupted the feng shui (or whatever the Jewish equivalent is). I am the youngest person in the room by a solid 45 years, and absolutely everyone is Jewish.

I see an "order here" sign so I go and stand at the abandoned counter waiting for someone to come out. I wait for a minute or two, when this woman walks up and wedges herself between me and the counter, literally an inch in front of me, also waiting for someone to take her order. A group of 5 women walk in immediately after this happens, and all join the woman who has just usurped my first place in line. Then two more people who were sitting in chairs get in line behind them. This whole scene happened across a 60 second time span, and I am standing completely blocked out by 9 Jewish senior citizens.

I'm standing there debating if I should say something, or wondering if maybe there was an unspoken rule that since the woman had been sitting inside the deli longer than me, she got first dibs on placing her order. I made it very clear through staring her down that I had every intention of going next and not letting her cohort all go in front of me. After she ordered, the next woman started to open her mouth, but I interject. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you waiting to order? I didn't even see you there!" (not possible. she nearly stepped on me.)

I unintentionally took my revenge by reclaiming my place in line and picking up my order for 16 people while the army of seniors all had to wait to order their matzo ball soup.

Guess what? I'm still going to India.

And you can help me get there! It's so much easier now too. All you have to do is.... CLICK THIS LINK!!!!!!!!!

so easy!

i wrote this 4 years ago and it's still true

i had every intention of making this a well thought out post with meaningful thoughts and ideas. it was going to be real and honest and bring you to tears (in a good way) and make you realize that the world can be a cruel place but there is hope and healing through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit and your friends and well spent time. i was going to take this paragraph and integrate the weekend's events into what i have realized about community and love and acceptance and dependence; about prayer and healing and support; about taking time to "be still and know that I am God", and "have mercy on me a sinner", and how all the stupid little plans that you think you've made are going to fall apart because you don't know what's best for yourself because you can't do things out of reactions to people hurting you. the sentences were going to all be run-ons but you wouldn't care anyway because you wanted to know so badly what came next that it seemed perfectly logical to not stop and pause for a breath.

i wish i could write this story for you. i really do. maybe one day i will write it; it's just that today i haven't figured it all out yet.

I'm going to India!

Dear Friends and Family,

Many changes have taken place in my life in the last couple years. In 2009, I uprooted my life in southern California to do mission work in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I spent 8 months working at the Shelter City Youth Hostel in the Red Light District, serving travelers from all over the world and doing a bit of traveling myself. In September of 2010, I started a 2 year master’s program at UC Irvine in Urban Planning and worked part-time at a 3D printing company to help pay my bills in the meantime. This week I am starting my second and final year of my master’s program, and this month I started a new job as the Office Manager of a software development company called Innovative Idea Group. I am excited for what the Lord holds for me this year as the last two years have held many adventures around the world and interesting people along the way.

This brings me to my next adventure: India. I have accepted a position on the 2011 Rock Harbor Church India team. We leave LAX on December 26, 2011 and return January 8, 2012. While over there, we will be partnering with Harvest India, a Christian humanitarian organization whose purpose is to share Christ’s compassion for the poor throughout Andhra Pradesh by sharing basic resources such as food and medication, planting churches, and raising up leaders. To read more about the specific work Harvest India is doing, please visit http://www.harvestindia.org/. Our part in this is to organize and execute a Vacation Bible school for hundreds of Indian orphans, distribute food and clothing to lepers, and share the Gospel message with the poor throughout the villages in southern India. I am both excited and nervous, as most of my travels have been within the Western world and this will be my first experience in Asia in such extreme living conditions.

I’d love for you to participate with me in this ministry! Most importantly I ask that you participate through prayer. Prayer for safety in travel, health, compassion, physical and emotional strength, team unity, and protection from spiritual attack. Ideally I’d like to have one person commit to praying for me each day that I am in India, so I’ve created a Google calendar outlining the team’s itinerary and the first name of the person who has signed up to pray for me that day (please feel free to sign up for more than one day or more than one person a day!). If you'd like to sign up, please contact me directly or leave your name / date in the comments. You can view my calendar here. 

Secondly, I ask that you consider supporting me financially. I have committed to raising $3,000. If you would like to make a donation to my trip, make donations payable to ROCKHARBOR Church. Please do not write my name or the country anywhere on the check. Please mail to ROCKHARBOR Church, attn: my country / my name, 3080 Airway Ave. Suite 100, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Please note that donations are tax deductible and are non refundable. All donations will go towards the overall cost of the trip, and any excess funds will first help cover the team’s costs and secondly will be gifted to the ministry we are going to serve.

           If you have any questions, concerns, or encouraging words, please feel free to contact me! Thank you for walking this journey with me.

where did that come from...?

in case you were wondering...

Where did the name Death Cab For Cutie come from?
Ben: The name was a song by a band in the Sixties called The Bonzo Dog Band. It was in The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" movie and we just decided to use it as a band name.