My Trip Home

Well, I'm sitting in Springfield Missouri's airport after a rush of two days back in Joplin, my hometown, at a CIY brainstorming session for next summer's MOVE conference. It was great. I got to meet several new people, and make great connections in ministry in several different states. Yesterday (wednesday) we had a planning session all day. We got a lot hammered out. We talked about theme, scripture to go along with it, issues that our students face, all kinds of stuff.
About 5:00 we were finished for awhile and so I headed on over to OCC and went to the cafeteria to see some people. It was a crazy mix of seeing new faces and seeing some people still there that shouldn't be. It brought back good memories. I got to see several friends and hear how this year was going. I guess things can go on without me. I also went up to Williamson 1st and saw my old floor. That was really cool too. The guys are doing great and really stepping up in their leadership.
Seeing my family was really great too. We surprised Megan and Jordan on Tuesday night. I rang the doorbell on Tuesday night about 9:00 and Megan was super surprised and excited. I'm smiling right now as I think about her reaction. I saw her wedding video and the improvements to the house they had made. At one point Megan said, "You guys gotta see what I did in the bathroom." Immediately my mind thought of something I'm sure Megan didn't mean. We had cheesecake and tea, and played a game. A great time. I really love my family alot. They are so cool. I'm extremely blessed to have them.
One more tangent. Last night we ate at Stouts, a very original pizza place in Joplin. There was a table in the corner with a family of four that made Georgia look not so redneck. These Joplinites each ordered their own pizza! Not a personal pan, but an entire pizza. The Dad put his all away and the rest of them finished over half. They were missing teeth but not manners. They were actually very clean and respectable, but the sheer amount of pizza was incredible.
These past three days have been incredible. I love what I'm doing, and the new people I've met, but it has made me miss the Ozark relationships. I hope we can import that Ozark culture where everyone is so focused on Kingdom value things and the sense of community and understood need of it is so great. I was the only single person this entire weekend. Everyone else was talking about their families and children and such. It made me a little lonely. I'm doing okay though. Things will happen in their right time. Now I just want to focus on getting a roomate and having a little extra money to pay mortgage and do a little more flexible things. I never want money to trap me though. It can easily do that the more we have of it. There is a fine line I don't want to cross of having enough extra for when a rainy day comes, and putting your hope of salvation in the dollar bill. Maybe this stock market bailout thing can teach me a lesson about that. Anyway, that is enough for one day. A lot about a lot. So many emotions are going through my head right now. Untill next time...