Back....

A bit of a vacation from life and blogging...probably more like complete collapse from a summer filled with extraordinary opportunities but no sleep. 

I have a million things to talk about and the sense that I don't even know where to start.  When people come back from retreats or mission trips they often cannot find words to express their experiences.  If they do find words, it's hard to get them to make sense to people who have never been on a retreat or mission trip.  Encounters with the holy are like that...hard to describe...impossible to experience through someone else.

And, frankly, I'm not sure anyone would count what I have done this summer as an "encounter with the holy."  I drywalled a house in Louisianna.  I coached youth in worship leadership...repeating the words "slow down" until the kids will never be able to remove those words from their psyche.  I hung out with kids from my own church as they got their summer retreat fix and explored issues of faith and life together.

Jesus didn't show up at our dinner table for fish and bread.  No burning bushes appeared--which was probably good because we certainly didn't need any more heat or humidity.  None of us were transformed in ways that caused those around us to want to build temples on our behalf.  We worked and sweated and laughed and learned.  We loved each other and hated each other.  We paid deliberate attention to our faith every day, but not in ways that would get us elected pope. 

But God was there with us.  And God was speaking to us through each other and the scripture and the experiences which showed us both God's kingdom here and how and the need for God's kingdom to come quickly.  And while I wondered for a few days if I was going to die, I would do it again tomorrow.  I can't articulate the impact, but I can feel it.