the dust bowl...

The middle of nowhere is hot and full of teenagers. Falls Creek camp brings nearly 7000 students every week to the middle of America to experience utter insanity. Southern Oklahoma is no place to spend a summer and I am grateful that this is my last day here. Tomorrow I fly to California to spend another week in an even more secluded area of the country with a small gathering of Orange Country teens with whom I will worship and wake-board, sleeping under the stars in a cool dry climate far from the sticky doldrums of the Texas-Oklahoma boarder. From California I fly to New Mexico to meet some friends for another week of camp before returning back home to Nashville. Tennessee feels so far away.

Some days it takes everything within me to look around and feel okay. I do not like living in a world where trust is so rarely rewarded. I logged into my computer for the first time this week and read through the news. Reports of indictments and mounting legal tension in the present administration seem to escalate daily. I’m tired of all this and am beyond passing it all off as some kind of political mud wrestling. I know partisan politics are fierce these days yet you can only hear so many stories of corruption and not believe it. It concerns me to see a top ranking government official leak secrets and get commuted while the victim of the leak gets her case thrown out in court. What a system! It would appear justice’s blindfold is falling off.

I guess it is a blessing to be unplugged for a few weeks. I am already experiencing the refreshment that comes with being out in creation, seeing mountains, and communing with friends and fellow believers. Plus I got to ride a mechanical bull and I've got the skinned knees to prove it (never ride a mechanical bull in shorts)! I get to spend the entire next week camping without the aid of so much as a tent. I lie on my back in those moments and consider the stars and what lies beyond with all the wonder I can give this creation. I have been to both these coming camps before and both were life-changing weeks. I simply cannot wait.

I finished the last Harry Potter yesterday, sad to reach the end of something so fun and endearing, and extremely satisfied with the finish. All of my concerns for the book seem to be appeased and I commend Rowling, while not the literary equivalent of Tolkien and Lewis who many feel apt to compare her to, on being an excellent story teller. I will revisit these books again and again over the years.

I am also getting to enjoy some new music while on the road. I’ve picked up the new Spoon and Interpol records, as well as the new Fountains of Wayne. Spoon is a brilliant alternative band out of Austin and the record warrants multiple listens. Interpol is a favorite amongst the new wave revival and Fountains may be the most clever and consistent source of solid pop music these days. Who else can write a song about a ‘92 Subaru and get away with it!

That the news from my world. I’ll check back in when I get to Glorietta but until then, Cheers!

journeys

I just left Sarah, my girlfriend, and Scott, my roommate, at the airport here in Nashville (Sarah center, Scott perched between us. The girls to the right are on the trip as well). They are on their way to Moldova for an 11 day mission trip through our church. Moldova is nestled between Romania and the Ukraine and is the poorest nation of the former Soviet Union. Thousands of children live in orphanages there until the age of 16 when they are released by the state. 70% of girls are sold into the sex trade within their first year on the streets. 70% of boys turn to organized crime and of those, 10% commit suicide. Our church is sending three teams this year to three different parts of the country. There is tremendous hope in the gospel of Christ and I ask anyone who is willing to pray for them to do so while they are gone.

For further info, just follow the link to the team blogs on the right.

"If you get rid of the yoke from those around you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking, and if you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like the noonday. The Lord will always lead you, satisfy you in a parched land, and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters never run dry. Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the resorer of streets where people live." - Isaiah 58:9-12