Late Thursday night Dawn, her little brother Al, and myself arrived safely at Bryce Resort in Basye, VA. This is in the middle of nowhere about twenty minutes north of Harrisonburg. We have been suffering together since then we the rest of her family hiking and eating way too much good food. Hopefully I can get some pictures up soon, especially from today’s hike. Great summit right when our muscles were about to quit on us; thankfully we had a nice hot tub waiting for us back at the cabin.

Tomorrow we head back to civilization. Ready to have a work week when I’m in Norfolk for a change; lots to catch up on from traveling the last four weeks and ready to get back into the gym on a more regular basis. We have a 5k coming up on Saturday that is keeping me honest.

My favorite books are the ones that I rarely come across that leave me thinking long after I put them down. Seeing U2 in Charlottesville on Thursday had that affect. The show was amazing; I love their music but they are way better live. The fact that it was at Scott Stadium did not hurt.

What I felt while I experienced their show was that they existed as a band for reasons far greater than money and fame. I’m not completely sure I can pinpoint why specifically they exist but my take so far is that they want to radically affect this world.

Thankfully I had purchased a book for Dawn a few Christmases ago about the band which I devoured this weekend. Reading was especially nice because we were in Nags Head celebrating my little cousin’s wedding. Yeah Jenn! Reading the book made me want to think through their lyrics more and more so I was jamming to a handful of their CDs today while driving to and from Richmond to visit one of my staff there.

Now I’m a touch tired and figure it’s time to stop writing. Lots more to think and write about U2; I connected with something in them, an angst to see the world change that was very refreshing. And I realized that I think my wife and Bono have a lot in common in that vein. More soon.

Life is feeling a touch like a blur today. After getting back from the lake on Sunday, I left Monday morning for Chapel Hill and my first meeting as a part of IV’s regional leadership team. Three thought-filled days later, I’m home again and trying to get lots done before heading out the door.

Tonight U2 plays in our own college town of Charlottesville and we’ll be there with the rest of the crazies. Dawn should be home any minute now as we’re hoping to beat the traffic, pick some apples, and catch a good dinner before finding some hidden parking and catching the show. I’m not completely sure what to expect but my guess is we’ll be very glad we went.

Tomorrow morning when we wake up we’re headed to Nags Head for a long weekend to celebrate with my little cousin Jennifer as she gets married on the beach. Not certain where we will wake up tomorrow morning, probably depends on traffic getting out of CVille and how tired/wired we are. Richmond seems like a decent guess as of now though I think we’re secretly hoping we could make it all the way home. That would put us at the beach earlier the next day!

Next week is a full week of campus visits before a weekend trip to the mountains with Dawn’s family:) Tough life, I know. Supposedly things slow down after that…

…that might get me to try blogging again. It’s Sunday afternoon and we’re at the lake watching football:) Woke up to pouring rain and I started mentally making plans to head back home early. But then we fell asleep again and woke up to sunshine which led to making plans to stay a bit longer. Dawn took a run and I found good stuff on TV so now we’re good. Just back inside from a nice long boat ride, the pontoon boat may be twenty years old but that sucker still runs good.

Special shout out to my dad for his prompting for me to start posting again, you can check out his site on link number two over to the right. Not convinced I’m back yet but we’ll see…

Really don’t like the continuation rule in the NBA. On the plus side, I’m thankful bball is on though cause I’m wired and need to get some paperwork done tonight before I go to bed. And no, I don’t generally count the NBA as actually bball but it’s the finals and it’s Kobe (our cat’s namesake) so it works for me.

Nice evening here, solid dinner with a good friend (Panera never disappoints) then a little sweat at the Norfolk Y. Dawn’s in Vegas for work, how come my business trips are always to Wisconsin? For the record, I fly out again at the end of this month.

Been reading again, one recommended by one of the craziest and neatest women who was down at Duke with us. The Hole In Our Gospel is a new one by Richard Stearns who is the head honcho at World Vision and tells a good story.

He talks about his life as a follower of Christ how he did all he was supposed to and had a great life. He was a great husband and father to five great kids, really involved in leading his church, and also the CEO of Lenox China. Making bank. And then God called him to lead World Vision and everything changed. His book is a great challenge to the wealth of the Christian West and a call to live out the Gospel in the ways that God calls.

Yes, I promise to take a break after this one and read on a different topic:)

As I continue my thoughts from yesterday’s post, I wonder how Christians suffering around the world from poverty and lack of education and other things that money might actually affect will remember those of us who are Christians in the West and who actually could have made a difference.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Just finished A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and felt like writing about it here briefly. This book is thick but reads like a fast-moving series of articles detailing a new perspective on this country’s history. I will simply say that it is in stark contrast to the history I was taught in school.

Zinn tells stories more from the perspective of those who have not made it in this land of opportunity. Or perhaps more specifically, those who have often been trampled on. One particular piece that stays with me was his look at the colonization of this country with details about Christopher Columbus and a perspective on native American people that I feel like I knew but never quite grasped.

I admit I’m not sure what to do with this book. It’s interesting that I read it both before and after this past week at Duke where Dawn and I spent time talking about reconciliation from a Biblical worldview. Reconciliation can not be properly discussed without looking at issues of power. I find myself convinced that in this country, power exists in the hands of a very few.

And yet at the same time, I believe that God uses people to change the world, often by beginning in small ways. Thus we create power, or at least merge the small amount power each one of us has together, often in opposition to the existing power structures.

I wonder what our generation will do with this country. Will those of us that are able (through privilege, education, etc.) to embrace all that we can obtain for ourselves? Or will we give up that right and choose instead to give our lives for the sake of others?

After quite a bit of travels, tonight at 9:30 we arrived home. Great to visit the lake for a brief bit on the way home. Surprisingly nice to be home. We tend to take alot of crap for traveling so much and usually coming home is tough. For some reason tonight it feels good.

My dad says I am twittering and not blogging. I will try to step up the content after sleeping in tomorrow:)

Our amazing week at Duke ended yesterday with a bang and this morning we woke up in Charlotte. Last days of conferences are not my favorite; everything seems done and I wish they would simply send us home. Final three hours were completely awesome with a great panel discussion by some new heroes as well as a really sweet time of worship.

While leaving campus, we went by Cameron one more time and saw the one and only Coach K. He was running his ridiculously expensive old man’s camp and we saw him duck behind a curtain while we were exploring the building quietly. I followed to say hello but he disappeared.

Great to be here resting and having fun with Al and Susan, kinda nice to have a bit of a break before going back to work on Monday. Gives everything from this week a chance to settle in which is good as I’m expecting Dawn and myself to have some pretty lengthy conversations processing this last week. Pretty powerful stuff and amazing to have been there together.

For now, back to The Daily Show and a few emails:)

Last full day at Duke and I am waking up pretty tired. Yesterday was a success though! Finally made my purchases at the bookstore which I am happy with and we walked around Cameron:)

Great week so far, praying that I can keep learning as my mind is getting full.