I am on vacation.

The weather is beautiful.

Hanging with my mom is great.

Life is good.

Yesterday. . . at least everything before 4pm . . . could be classified as the day from hell.

The story is too involved to get into . . . but the day was full of stress and it was just a total disaster.

But I would have to say I arrived at a definite turn around at 4pm.

Nothing can really beat hanging with little Evan Stetler (and his fun older brothers), great conversation with his super cool mom, veggie mac & cheese, Jeni's ice cream and a good movie. So thanks for redeeming my day Kerri . . . it means a whole lot.

Have a beautiful day . . .

"Maybe this is just how it supposed to be the first time you are here."

Someone said that to me back in August . . . and it has stuck with me in a very powerful way over the last two months.

Maybe things are, the way they are, when the are . . . for a very specific reason.

Maybe every moment, every thought, every interaction, every conversation, every minute of my life is exactly how it is supposed to be . . . maybe there are no such things as expectations and life not really meeting them.

Maybe I am really okay (despite how I feel) . . . maybe this is just what my life needs to look and feel like right now.

It is not about getting it right . . . or some perfect ideal of how it is supposed to be.

It really is a journey . . . and maybe this is exactly how it supposed to be at this point.

This place is full of beauty.

This place is full of life.

This place is full of good people.

This places helps me believe another world is possible.

I will remember my time here at this place . . . for a long time to come.

When I was in the midst of making the decision to move to Columbus over two year ago, I found myself sifting through a mess of confusion.

I was torn between the life I knew . . . the life and direction that was so comfortable, labeled and boxed up, ready for me to live . . . and the life I could have in Columbus.

I was desperate for peace . . . peace to know that I was making the right decision or even what the right decision was.

So I emailed Mark and asked if he thought that I would be able to find peace . . . if he thought it was something attainable in the situation I found myself in.

He said it was . . . that it may not look like or even feel like what I want it to . . . but it does exist.

The problem for most is that they confuse peace with comfort . . . having a peace about what is supposed to happen next, does not always mean it will be comfortable . . . it just means that you know that is what God is asking of you.

"Grace"
by Wendell Berry

The woods is shining this morning.
Red, gold and green, the leaves lie
on the ground, or fall,
or hang full of light in the air still.
Perfect in its rise and in its fall, it takes
the place it has been coming to forever.
It has not hastened here, or lagged.
See how surely it has sought itself,
its roots passing lordly through the earth.
See how without confusion it is
all that it is, and how flawless
its grace is. Running or walking, the way
is the same. Be still. Be still.
"He moves your bones and the way is clear."

This poem has really been resonating with me lately . . . the more I read it . . . the more I understand it . . . the more I am able to take from it.

I don't think I could have been introduced to this poem at a better time. Thanks Phil.

I spend about thirty minutes awake in my apartment every day.

It would seem that thirty minutes a day is not very much.

Is this an issue to I should be concerned about?

Cause if it is . . . I don't know how I feel about that.