it only works if you talk back.

Road trips can be excruciating without an appropriate method of passing time. Music, snacks, and drinks are often crucial. For some driving brings car sickness, this is not the case for me at all. I’ve never had issues with car sickness, in fact I can read extensively without the slightest discomfort (some people are just not able to). So I’ve managed to get a lot of reading done on this trip, which has been nice (though I unfortunately brought limited books from home, ones I’ve been meaning to read for a long time). So here is a list of readings from this trip (in order of completion).

The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps

Drops Like Stars by Rob Bell

Wall and Piece by Banksy

Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk

The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture by Shane Hipps

Toward an Old Testament Theology by Walter C. Kaiser Jr

I also bought Go Green, $ave Green by Nancy Sleeth, but that’s one that is not really well suited for reading in a car.

I’m hoping I can keep up with reading on a regular basis, because I do have a crapload of books at home that I want to read…

Every once in a while, I daydream.

Duh.

Who doesn’t?

I don’t think much of it, I have ideas of what things will look like, what events will turn out to be like, what people I will get to meet, what things I will get to do.

Then there are those things that are at the center of who I am as a person, those things which I am passionate about, those things that have resonated in an incomprehensible/unintelligible/unspeakable kind of way.

Then there are those times where both of these things collide, but those “daydreams” end up being a mere shadow of reality, and what actually occurs is far more memorable, and far more encouraging.

Enter July 5th, 2009. Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan. The event: Poets, Prophets and Preachers. This was the first of many sessions in the DeVos Performance Hall, and it was essentially composed of some book buying (as well as a T-shirt), some conversation with some people from all over America, as well as listening to Rob Bell speak about the art of preaching and why it is an art-form worth doing well and redeeming it once again.

This was all fine and dandy, in fact it was pretty great, but God always saves the best for last. After the talk, we met up with Peter Rollins in the lobby to go for some drinks along with Gina (whom I did not know), we ran into another fellow named Aaron. These are the people who would essentially make my night worth the trip, and I didn’t even know it. It’s not that I don’t love the people I travelled with (I do) or that I don’t enjoy spending time with Peter Rollins (I really do) but it was more the opportunity to unconsciously spill my guts about the things that I’m passionate about to a couple other people that was incredible. I said nothing that wasn’t true, nothing that was contrived, nothing that required second thought, but they were all things that I hadn’t necessarily pondered long and hard.

Apparently it was ingrained within me.

I honestly don’t even remember the 25 minutes that I rambled on (ok, I do, yet I couldn’t repeat it coherently), except the fact that it was honest and truthful and it was me. It wasn’t that I hijacked the conversation either, at least I don’t think so, because I had genuine conversation with these people about their ministries and passions and what they are doing, my story just finished off our time together.

And I couldn’t have asked for a better night.

Road trips can illicit a lot of emotions and thoughts in one’s mind. One’s previous experiences and media exposure can certainly conjure up plenty of awful memories as well as a host of overly glamorous, idealistic ones. My road trip experiences have been a fairly mixed bag, ranging from the wonderful to the dreadful, yet I was still more than willing to embark on a couple more this summer. While I cannot yet comment on what the second trip has brought, I can certainly comment in the moment about my current adventure.

I am currently sitting in Josh and Jessica Culling’s VW City Golf, MacBook in lap, July 4th at 11pm ET (though this will be posted later). We have been traveling since July 2nd at 4:30PM MT, and our driving has taken us across 3 Canadian provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) as well as 6 US States (North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan). Our final destination is downtown Grand Rapids, MI (ETA 12:30AM ET).

What the hell are we doing? You might ask this question, which is fair. We are on our way to Grand Rapids for a conference put on by Rob Bell called Poets, Prophets and Preachers, which also features Shane Hipps as well as Peter Rollins. To say I’m excited for this is an understatement, as I know it will bring many excellent times of instruction/guidance from some fantastic Christian leaders. But of course, the destination requires a journey and ours is not a glamorous one. There are four of us, it is somewhat cramped, our periodical stops to gas up and stretch make us fully aware of our unglamorous odour (the one contained in the vehicle that is). We have had some good meals, though some have not agreed with one particular individual (one Subway breakfast sandwich had terrible disagreement with our driver, on the matter of when and how much he should shit).

Part vacation, part instruction, part insanity.

I suppose I should start at the beginning. Our journey began in our hometown: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Our first night of driving was pretty easy, only 6 hours to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. We stayed with Jessica’s brother Nolan, and it was a pretty easy first leg.

The following day I made the (unconscious) decision to leave the only sweater that I brought in Saskatoon. This has caused no problems yet, although most of my time has been spent in a vehicle. This second day on the road was far more extensive, taking us across to Manitoba and down into North Dakota. Border crossing was interesting, I’ve never had to leave the vehicle before so they could search our bags/vehicle. This led to a few broken zippers (none of them mine). Our destination was Fargo, North Dakota and it was an excruciatingly boring drive. To be completely honest, North Dakota and Minnesota were very boring states to travel through. Upon our eventual arrival in Fargo, we checked into a large Super 8 room. This led to my first of 3 consecutive breakfast meals: brinner (breakfast for dinner) at Perkin’s near the hotel. Satisfaction quickly set in from the eggs benedict, and sleep was a welcome end to the day.

After a good night’s sleep, and a crappy continental breakfast (consecutive bfast #2), we set off on the road. This was/is by far the most extensive day of driving so far. Finally leaving North Dakota and getting through Minnesota brought the welcome landscape change of Wisconsin (a surprisingly lovely state, and the home of consecutive breakfast #3). From this point on the drive seemed less excruciating, but certainly no less lengthy. The final four states were certainly the most interesting in terms of driving, scenery/landscape, and the eventual late night fireworks across Indiana. We’ve yet to arrive at our hotel in downtown Grand Rapids, but once that happens we will remain there for 3 days and 4 nights. It will be a welcome change of pace, and hopefully home to some wonderful experiences.

That’s pretty much all I have to say for now, and I certainly think that’s enough.

PS. One great thing about road trips is the ability to get some good reading done (if you don’t get carsick) as I have finished 2 our of the 3 books I brought along, and am working my way through number 3. Hopefully I pick up a few more good reads in Grand Rapids.