August 23, 2010Fifteen years ago this week Jennifer and I left our homes and packed what little we owned into our cars and drove to Nashville to move into our apartment. It was the beginning of our lives together as “us”, out on our own. Tomorrow we will again drive to Tennessee and move a car’s worth of stuff into an apartment. The “us” includes two kids and a dog this time, but in some ways this feels much the same is it did in 1995.
Our house in Franklin still sits vacant as we await our mold settlement process to begin. Our consumer advocate is telling us to plan on at least six months of limbo. Numbers with a lot of zeros are being tossed around and it makes me nervous. In a way this is even more unsettling than our move to Africa. When we moved there we had a plan. We knew where we would be and for how long and how much it would cost. This is different. I haven’t the foggiest idea where we will be in six months or how much, if any, money we will have left. It’s easier to live life one day at a time when you sort-a know what to expect from each day.
Some of you know how we feel cause you’re walking the same season right now. We’ve read your stories as they have come in and have been really blessed by them. Shortly flowing this blog post will come the first edition of TRAVELERS IRL (in real life). The concept is still in the development stage but we are genuinely excited about connecting people who have our music in common with one another to share their lives.
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BlogPosted Under: Faith, House, Meridee's Monday, Travels, Trust@11:39 am
June 7, 2010Merridee’s Monday
(Starbucks this morning, for the umbrellas)
Franklin is such an anomaly. At any given day, at any time of day, you can walk into a Starbucks (the Christian bar) and find at least one person, usually more, reading their Bible. The guy that served me my decaf-Americano -w/ whip asked me how my weekend was and I told him it was good but I’m tired from four services at Church. He completely understood and we talked about his church for a while. The guy behind me is having his quiet time and the guy next to us is talking about his preaching.
Surely Nashville is the heart that pumps the “red” through the arteries of this very red state. It’s something to be proud of for sure. This is a great community to raise kids and with so many mission minded church here, millions are going to missions every week. But there’s also something to be weary of as well. It is so culturally correct to be a conservative evangelical here that we risk wielding a very dull sword when it comes to battle. Jennifer and I often envy Christians who live in parts of the country where following Jesus is not the norm because we know we would have to be much sharper and aware of our environment if we lived there. Franklin isn’t heaven, or utopia, but you do have to look to find non-Christians.
I’m not sure why exactly this is on my mind this morning but it would be interesting to hear your thoughts. I’ll be on my computer for a while if you want to chime in. At about eleven I have to head to church to help with kids camp. On my way there I’ll stop at Chik-fil-A, where they will be playing worship music on the in-store music system, and I’ll get a Christian Diet Coke.
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BlogPosted Under: Christian, Faith, Franklin, Tennessee@10:54 am
