Mon. 12.31.07

Today has been one of those days that ended with the confusion of whether only a single day has closed or if it has been two days that my mind is trying to meld into one memory. I began the day with an early arrival at Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (The St. Louis Arch). I have to be honest, it takes a lot for a man-made monument to impress me to the same degree as God’s creation. This monument may have come the closest. It is amazingly simple in design – nothing more than a huge stainless steel archway that looms some 630 feet into the air.

At one angle the sun reflects off the stainless steel as though it has actually fallen to earth and is shinning from within the arch. At other angles it appears the razor sharp edges cut the sky into two distinct parts. The angles formed at the pinnacle of the arch seem to show a more fragile side of the monument, as though it could actually tumble over at any moment.

I was not properly prepared for my ride to the top of the Arch. Robbye, had told me about the small pods that carry you to the top - being small I knew that wouldn’t bother me. However, I don’t think she told me about the banging, squeaking, clanking, noises that the trains of 5 person pods make as they ascend to the top of the Arch. If she did tell me about this, I seem to have conveniently forgotten. To make matters worse I arrived early enough to get a whole pod to myself. There was no one there causing me to fake bravery. Somewhere after the first clank, I remembered that my dad had been to the Arch when I was just a kid. I wondered if he had taken the same pods. I wondered how much maintenance had been done since his visit. The clanking noises seemed to indicate a little more might be helpful. It was then I started taking self portraits in which I tried to smile and look brave. How did I do?

After making it through the experience, I decided to spend some quality time at the top. Here are some pictures of the view.

Back on solid ground, I spent some time in the Westward Expansion Museum. I think the most striking thing I learned was that the people who first made the journey West had in some ways the same sense of adventure and discovery that I have. However, I'm thankful that my trip will be much easier. I'll make a trip in the matter of a week that would have taken those brave explorers and settlers seasons.

After leaving the Arch, I headed to Kansas City. About half way between St. Louis and Kansas City I started noticing snow. At first it appeared huddled in small masses in the shady areas, then the further I drove the more ground was covered. The roads were clear and dry, making for and easy and beautiful drive. The sunset again was wonderful. Something about the sun setting against the white snow makes me think of the beach.

MILES DRIVEN: 446.6 today (1,563 total miles)

TIME DRIVING: 6:24 today (27:46 total)

STATES COVERD: 3 today (10 total)

Sun. 12.31.07

Today tried to start at 3:30 AM, but I refused to be awaken. I went back to sleep and finally got moving around 7:00. I took a slow trip to Mammoth Cave.

I decided to trek down a back road and came across these two old barns. Something about them caught my attention.

I decided to take the 4 ½ hour Grand Avenue tour of Mammoth Cave. Mammoth is the longest cave system in the U.S. Within the approximate 7 square miles that make up the surface of the park there are about 320 known miles of cave below the surface. Having driven 377 miles today, I have a new appreciation for that little factoid. I had lunch with a really nice, but perhaps a bit eccentric couple from Ohio. If nothing else it made for interesting lunch conversation.

Here are a few pictures from the cave.



After exiting the cave, I drove around and came across this total tourist trap of a souvenir shop (complete with a dinosaur replica in the parking lot.) Only now am I sorry I didn’t take a picture. The older couple that owned of the store must have been a bit bored due to a lack of customers so they chatted with me for a while. They offered me a coke for the road. For some really strange reason I turned them down, stating I had an entire 6 pack in the car. In retrospect that was a far bigger mistake than not taking the picture of the tacky dino.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful - just a drive through Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. The sunset was incredible so here are a few pictures of it.

MILES DRIVEN: 377.9 today (1,116.4 total)

TIME DRIVING: 6:06 today (21:22 total)

STATES COVERED: 2 today (7 total)

Sat. 12.29.07

I’m in Bowling Green, Kentucky – and no longer in the Eastern Time Zone. So far I’ve only driven 738.5 miles. That sounds like a long way until I consider how much further I have to drive. . about 2600 miles. That is almost four times as far as I’ve already driven.

According to the GPS records I hit my top speed so far on the trip. Those of you who know my driving habits can imagine how much joy this brought me. Of course I’m not going to post the speed, as I’d prefer to avoid a lecture from any of you !!!!

So far the trip is going really well. I’ve been jamming to some great music and finished listening to Don Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz”. It is an amazingly candid, honest look at Christian spirituality. (Thanks to Evan and Carrie, for the recommendation.) Oh yes, and a special thanks to June who packed a lunch big enough to feed me for days and a huge bag of chocolate that might last the night :-)

MILES DRIVEN: 417.5 miles Friday and Saturday (738.5 total)

STATES COVERED:

Butler, Georgia

I’m writing this blog in Microsoft Word in the hopes that I’ll one day be able to post when I’m gloriously reunited with a wireless high speed internet connection. Actually, I’d likely settle for a dial up connection at this point. This “trial” is small price I pay for time spent with my extended family in the rural Georgia town of Butler. If you’ve never heard me speak of this town, one of my favorite places on earth, let me describe it for you a bit. Butler is the quintessential small town. Both my grandparents were born and grew up within a few miles of this town. In fact, all four of their parents (my great-grandparents) lived their entire lives in this county. When I was 13, my family lived here for a year and I came to a very sudden realization that I was related to about ¼ of the town, and the other ¾ knew me, my parents, and my grandparents. In fact, everyone in Butler, pretty much knows everyone. It is a place that makes it difficult to hide. I found the one year my family lived in the house across the dirt road (which is now paved) from my grandparents as wonderful as springtime is after a long winter. However, springtime comes with pollen, and I’m often thankful that we moved before I became the preachers kid living in that glass bowl in a town where it felt that literally everyone knew me.

Still the draw backs of this small town, and the lack of constant connection with those outside it, are actually part of the reason I love being here so much. Since my family moved a lot as I grew up (we had made 8 major moves by the time I was in high school), Butler and more specifically my Nana’s house became the one constant in my life. I could always count on it to be pretty much the same no matter what. The furniture stays in pretty much the same place, though a couple pieces have been replaced or reupholstered during my lifetime. My Papa’s old pick up still sits in the same spot under the carport, though the shinny green paint of my memories now has larger portions of rust specks than green. While the table that used to be the “kids” table now holds grown up kids, everything else pretty much remains the same.

I think that is part of the allure of a small town like Butler and perhaps part of the reason I chose it as the “last stop” before heading across the country for a new adventure. It is here where everything else stays so status quo that I realize my life has not been. On the last couple trips, I’ve found myself telling my niece stories of how my brother (their dad) got me and my cousins into trouble on a fairly regularly basis, or how we couldn’t wait for my cousins to arrive so we could play on their Nintendo, or who those people in the rust colored pictures from the 70’s and 80’s were. It is then, I realize I must look a lot like my dad and uncle did telling me stories from their childhood, and somehow this makes me feel old. I don’t often feel old, but here in Butler, Georgia where time seems to stand still, it becomes obvious to me that it is passing all too quickly.

Family Photos

Jarran, Shannon and I decided to reminisce with some old family photos last night. After a tear jerking laugh, I was left with one question. Who let me out of the house looking like this????

Failure ?

The dictionary defines failure as “lack of success” For me success is not a lack of mistakes (or acceptance that we have made them). Success is not even the antithesis of failure. The two are so intrinsically related that it is perhaps what keeps so many of us from realizing our true successes or how close we are. I believe that failure is an integral part of success. It is pushing through those failures, mistakes, bad decisions that can bring true success. It is the acceptance of failure, the bravery to admit it, and the determination to push on towards the goal that makes success.

Hope

Yesterday, I heard this line in a song:

"Hope has a way of turning its face to you, just when you least expect it.”
(Sara Groves, “It Might Be Hope” from the Tell Me What You Know album)


There is little doubt in my mind that the last two months have been two of the most trying I have lived through. Dreams I’ve held were dashed beyond recovery. Yet in this strange, desolate place, I’ve found something I thought I already possessed. I found HOPE. While this is not my first encounter with hope, I have to confess that this place does not remotely resemble the place my left brained, logical personality expected to find it. Hope carries such a positive connotation, I think I expected to find it in some better, more appealing place. The situation in which I currently reside seems much more like the kind of place that would take hope from me and leave me in a state of despair.

I have been guiltily of thinking of hope in such childish ways: “I hope I get . . .” , “I hope so and so happens.” These last two months have taught me that hope is something so much more. It is an emotion, an attitude, a gift, an assurance. It is more than my wishes and even more than my dreams. It is the assurance that my Redeemer will bring those dreams to fruition in His own way. It is when His way makes absolutely no sense from the human perspective, that He gives me hope that carries me to the place where His plans and dreams for me cast loving shadows on my tiny little dreams. Oh, I’m not in that place yet, but I feel hope carrying me there.

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.