On The Road Again..thanks Willie

   Mayre Lou gave me a travel cup a couple of years ago that played Willie Nelson's On The Road Again country song. We laugh about that a lot, because it sometimes seems to be our own theme song. Since our kids and grand kids live miles away from us and also because each family is pretty busy, we choose to go to them when we can. Today we began our trek to Arkansas to help Donna with her two while Noel is out in Utah. This is a two day trip (around 16 hours) and so tonight we are in beautiful downtown Grenada, MS. I guess it is beautiful and I guess we are downtown, but it was already dark when we arrived, and all I saw was the Interstate 55 exit and the motel.

   Our day consisted of breakfast at home, Bible Study at church at 7:15, Starbucks at 8:15 for her free coffee, and on the road to Mississippi. For the first 3 hours or so, we got to playing "Can you remember these people?", a game we made up as Mayre Lou went through her birthday and anniversary book. As she called out a name, we attempted to name the spouse and/or children and sometimes grand children of the person. We had folks from our Brainerd church, our Ooltewah church, our Blacksburg church, and, of course, from St. Simons. This lasted until lunch in Albany, and we had quite a few laughs as we tried to remember names and events associated with each one.

   While at Cracker Barrel, I picked up a book on tape, Every Other Monday by John Kasich, the current governor of Ohio. It was not a biography, or history, or politics, but a sharing of a faith journey through the shared experiences of 8 to 10 men in Columbus, Ohio who had been meeting one day, every two weeks, for a time of Bible Study and just living life together. A diverse group of men, from all walks of life, from various denominations and some from none, meeting to share their lives, struggles and victories with each other for over 20 years.

   The book rang a bell with me. While in Blacksburg, I had been involved in a small group such as this, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. There is just something about men doing life together. I still keep up with their activities and try to time my visits to Virginia to coincide with their meetings if I can.

   So, it is on to Conway tomorrow, bright and early in time to pick up the kids from their schools. Have not been with them for some time, so it will be a good time. I will try to be a more serious student of spiritual things when the wheels stop rolling for a day or so.