Weekend Wanderings

I drove back from yesterday after meeting a couple of guys in Starbuck's. I spent part of the four hour drive from Harrisonburg listening to the music of Les Mes. The stirring music and the story of redemption, healing and reconciliation has always moved me, but this was the first time I had dared to revisit it since Nancy came home.

The inspiration that I always felt to love my wounded partner was replaced by the tearful realization that we have moved further into the story. There is sweetness in knowing Nancy has escaped the loneliness and exploitation of this place. There is bitterness in knowing that our time together seemed brief and incomplete. I long for to be in that final act, "where chains will never bind me." But I realize that the timing of that last song is up to HIM.

This morning I team taught a missions course with my boss Carolyn. I gave the the perspective from the Great Plains. She expressed insights from North of the Border. Thus, we provided a rich and diverse perspective on the history and vision of WHM. Seriously, I think we worked well together.

Then I jumped in the car and headed to Bridge Church to hear our Josh preach on "Living in the Light of Heaven." It must have stretched him to visit this topic as he tries to make sense of the departure of his mom. But his transparency was winsome, and his insights were deep.

The evening included pizza with friends from church and an exhibition of a good friend's photography. KJ had helped Linda hang her vivid presentation of "The Color of Poverty" around the world.

Memories of the past weave with the activities of the present to suggest the shape of the future. And so goes another weekend's walk through this valley.