vacation

Our annual mid-summer respite in the mountains of western North Carolina. I have been reading alot. I highly recommend Greg Garrett's memoir, Crossing Myself, and Rodney Clapp's Johnny Cash and The Great American Contradiction. I am intentionally trying not to think about work, or the local church, and this primarily because I enjoy the church and the people I serve so much, and find that the year goes much better if I have had some detachment from it, even if for a couple of weeks of doing nothing. So I am walking around Lake Junaluska, most days twice, which would be five miles; I am watching very little television and have spent, I would guess, fifteen minutes in front of the computer the past seven days. I have prayed some, enjoyed breakfast today at a favorite pancake house in Maggie Valley (Joey's), taken a few naps, cleaned the gutters of our mountain cabin, saw Hancock (would you believe the movie matinee price in Waynesville is three bucks?), reconnected with a few neighbors here, run into a couple of bishops and a couple of bishop candidates (all of that happens, by the way, next week), and...I could go on. I love the summer, but I also eagerly look forward to returning to the pastoral work soon. But not yet...

By the way, I have a post at the Christian Century's blog, Theolog, which can be accessed in the links to the right.