Relationships...it's what makes life interesting!

The last two weeks have been travel weeks. I use to travel a lot but have really curtailed travel over the last couple of years. I made a trip last summer to Russia -- and read Mary's blog on her recent trip which reminded me of how great it was.
This last trip though was to much more modest places. Starting two weeks ago it was a four trip to Kansas City, returned home for four days and headed out again to Cincinnati, and then four days later drove up to Cleveland. Now honestly, how many people do you know who took two weeks to visit those three cities?
The remarkable thing about the trip was that I drove through snow in all three!!!! Amazing!!! I thought, "I'm going south, it will be Spring". Foolish thinking I'm afraid. It was an amazing 60+ degrees one afternoon in KC, but the trip home was through a snowy, sloppy, crappy Iowa and SW Wisconsin. A few days later, heading to Cincinnati, we hit a snow storm in No. Indiana and drove through that snow all the way to Cincy...about 4 hours worth. Then a few days later, another crappy snowy trip north to Cleveland. Cleveland is on Lake Erie, so snow tended to fall steadily during the whole time we were there, and then the ride home was snow through all of Ohio and part of No. Indiana. Yuck!!! I've been longing for Spring and getting Winter.

OK, so why keep traveling in the snow belt? One reason: Relationships.

Kansas City has Wendy Andrews and Linnea Spransy...two wonderfully beautiful girls who moved from Madison last summer to become a part of a new church plant, and to stretch their creative and leadership gifts for the sake of the Kingdom in art and prayer. Unfortunately, Linnea was on a trip to NYC, but we crashed Wendy's birthday party and got an opportunity to see the stuff she is involved in as co-director of 24/7 Prayer USA and on the leadership team of her new church.
Cincinnati was a trip with some of the Training Center students to Norwood, a city within Cincinnati. Norwood is home to our friends in Vineyard Central. Again, the simple reason for the visit is relationships. Our friends Dave & Jody Nixon hosted us for several days. It was a wonderful time for retreat and rest. I marvel at the way they have lived together in an intentional community for quite a few years. Their presence in a very poor area of Cincinnati being "salt and light" for the sake of Christ's Kingdom.
Finally, four of us: Fran, Jamie and Alexis...three girls and myself trekked north through the snow to Cleveland. There we joined up with the rest of the Training Center folk who had traveled to other places and joined up with some new friends from a church community to share the weekend together sharing life, jamming, and eating good food. One of the highlights of the trip was meeting new friends, Todd and Laurel...and Bob. Bob is 60, an advertising exec who lives about 30 minutes out in the country in a beautiful home and he hosted us for the evening...what a wonderful time it was. Staying a strange home is always a bit of a stretch for me. I never quite feel comfortable, but Bob managed to make things comfortable right away. My conversation with him was one of the highlights of the last two weeks away.
Relationships:
Wendy who've I've known well.
Dave & Jody who I've come to know more and more as friends.
Fran, Jamie, Alexis, Jordan who all traveled hours with me in one leg or another -- young adults with the old guy laughing, goofing around, listening together with me as I explain the story behind the music from "Les Miserables" for three hours...talking seriously at some times and hilariously at others.
Todd, Laural, and Bob who've I've just met. Relationships...it's what makes life interesting, don't you think?