Melissa and I just got back from a 2 day confernce in NYC. It was called “Dwell 08″ and was put on by Redeemer Pres and Acts 29. In short… a really cool time! How can it not be cool when you get to hear CJ Mahaney, Mark Driscoll and Tim Keller all at one place? We also gained a few new friends… PCA guys from Florida, who were a ton of fun and really helpful to talk to. Melissa and I really had our thoughts stirred and had some really good discussions during our trip there. Themes that we talked through included “our love for the Lord, beyond our concern for just His kingdom”, fear, “discerning the call”, “sheeps and wolves: what a good old fashion spiritual wolf whippin looks like”, the value and our underpractice of prayer and the quick passage of time. I am sure that many of these thoughts will find their way into lessons in the next months and into little blog inserts.
As for the city… I was in NYC 17 years ago on a senior trip. I hated the city. It was big, overwhelming, noisy, polluted and over-all yuck. So,… that is what I came to the city expecting. My first couple days confirmed this (minus the dirty party)… but by the 4th day,… i have to admit.. I liked the place. We were staying in the upper west section of Manhattan… just 100 yds off from the Natural History Museum, which is next to Centeral Park. On the second and third days, we hit the city.. and by “hit”, I mean “walked”. We are both sore from the walking. That points to two things…. much distance… and out of shape. We also dedicated some time to the subway system.. haveing figured it out just in time to leave the city. The forth day though.. was quite different. Melissa discovered that one of her all-time favorite movies was shot in the neighborhood … “You’ve Got Mail”. So, off we went. We ended up having breakfast at that cafe where Meg Ryan waits for her mystery man. It was great. Then we went to starbucks. I was able to read/pray and write for about 3 hours there. I later was made aware that was the starbucks from the movie as well. Then, on top of this, we had a great conversation with a resident couple about adapting to life in NYC.
Over-all, a really, really cool and helpful time. A huge word of thanks to the team of commandos who kept our children so we could be at this importiant event!
