Late Thursday Night on the Coast

I've got some catching up to do, now that we've arrived safely back on the Coast. Thank you, Lord. Wednesday morning we picked up the kids at the campsite and headed to Nashville. While traveling through the mountains ... Monteagle, I think ... my phone rang. In typical fashion I answered, "This is John." "Hi John, John Turner here. Where are you?" "I'm in Tennessee." "I know, I'm in the van right in front of you!" We had a good laugh at running into each other (not literally) on the road and arranged to meet later that night. Our teens stayed at the Antioch Church of Christ. This church sponsored an event Wednesday night called 'UNITED' on the Lipscomb University campus. It was a devotional / singing time followed by an excellent message from Landmark Church of Christ Campus Minister Nathan Capps. Following a break, there were three musical presentations. The first one was our summer youth intern, Will Collins. The other two were good, but we enjoyed Will the most, of course! Nashville Friend who used to live on the Coast, David White, was present with his wife and son. They are expecting another son in the coming months! It was a fun night. They sold concessions and accepted donations. Proceeds were to go to Katrina recovery missions. During the last few musical presentations, I had a great conversation with my friend John Alan Turner. John Alan and I firt met at Bear Valley School of Biblical Studies, taking a few classes together in the graduate program. His dad, J. J. Turner, was President of the school and I enjoyed getting to know him as well. They are now both in the Atlanta area, although involved in different churches. One of the things I like about John Alan is that we do not have to warm up our relationship after being apart for a long time. We just start talking and time starts flying. John is brilliant, but doesn't let that keep him from being real, funny, and keenly observant. He spoke for our Coast Teen Revival a few years ago and that was a lot of fun for me. I've been trying to get him and his dad on the same Sunday for a while...maybe that'll happen one day. He and Kenneth Boa wrote a book on The DaVinci Code that has done very well. He was in Nashville to teach a class for John Mark Hicks at Woodmont Hills Church of Christ. It was a joy and a blessing to talk him last night. He also brought me and Margaret a Krispy Kreme donut. I think my brother in law and blog reader Johnny Moore just got a craving for one of those! Sorry, Johnny, I already ate it! We had a safe journey home, although it sure did take us a long time. We ran into some severe weather south of Montgomery that slowed us down significantly for a long time. Well, I'm glad to be home. I was looking through some newspapers that came while I was out of town. Because of a conversation with a friend, I decided to look at the houses for rent. Get this: a 3 bedroom 2 bath house, 1300 square feet, $1500 per month. Our next biggest crisis is low income housing ... there won't be any....and there will be thousands of people who cannot afford to live here anymore. By the way, thanks, Charlie, for the comments and pictures of Charlene's house before it was repaired...or as it was being demolished. Well, it's midnight and I'm beat. I'll write again tomorrow, Lord willing.