Like Going Home - Sort of

I'm off to Asbury Seminary for a personal retreat for a couple of days (The Abbey of Gethsemani was full) before heading to Olympic Trials which start on Monday. In between the retreat and Trials I get to officiate at a couple of local meets. I'm really looking forward to the Elks Mini-Meet on Saturday morning. I love little swimmers!!

Coming to Wilmore, KY and the Asbury Seminary campus is like going home. Stephanie and I spent our first three years of marriage here living in a 440 sq ft duplex. We loved every minute of it as we shared life with other couples, all of us married within 2 weeks of each other. They are friends for life and I prayed for them as I drove down Harrodsburg Road and veered onto Route 29 into Wilmore. These are people who would do anything for us and we for them but it's just not been possible with where the Lord and life have taken us all - the Ford's are appropriately in Michigan - the Bullock's in Louisiana (Cornerstone partnered with their church for some hurricane relief) - the Leggett's are in Houston - the Jennings' are serving the Lord in Buffalo - the McNaney's live outside of Charlotte, NC - the Wannall's moved to Florida. We've seen almost all of them on some travels and some of them have traveled through Ohio and stopped to say hi. That's what community does.

Today I spent some time in Fletcher Chapel. It was like going home. This chapel was built while I was a student and I can remember coming in, even before it officially opened, to spend time in prayer, reading scripture and listening to the voice of the Spirit. It reminded me of why I decided to do what I do. I was refreshed - renewed - refocused - re-energized with some of the "why."

Tom Tumblin, Dean of the Besson International Center (and a guest speaker @ Cornerstone in late August) carved some time in his schedule for a chat over ice cream. He is a good friend and mentor and I appreciated his interest in what God is doing in my life.

I wanted to go to see our old digs on Gail Morris Ct. But they don't exist any more. The duplex complex was condemned and destroyed. Kinda makes me feel old that our first place no longer exists. There's no way to go home.

The community we built is still part of our lives but everyone has moved on....and life is good.

Looking forward to tomorrow for some more of "going home." Almost done with Integrity, another great book by Henry Cloud. He defines integrity as "the ability to meet the demands of reality." A lot of blogging to come about this book.


By the way, I buy most of my books using a Used Bookstore search engine: Abe Books. I can get most books, including this one, for $1.00 plus between $2.50 - $3.50 for shipping.