Skip to content ↓

Checking in from Nashville, TN

I’m a little bit later than usual in updating this site, but I’m also a timezone removed from where I usually update it. Yesterday, after spending over a hour shoveling out the car, the house, and a neighbor’s driveway, I left behind the cold and the snow and caught a flight to Nashville (where it’s merely cold—there doesn’t seem to be any snow). I am here for the Nashville Conference on the Church & Theology where I’ll be speaking tomorrow afternoon. We’ll also be hearing messages from D.A. Carson and Steve Lawson. I’ll be spending much of the day preparing for my message tomorrow. The conference kicks off this evening with Dr. Carson giving a message on “Keeping Up with the Conversation”—an overview of the Emergent Movement and the Emerging Church.

Whenever I travel I tend to buy myself a book at the airport and it’s usually something popular and easy to read. I love to just veg out on the plane by reading something enjoyable but not too serious. I typically spend just about every moment between the time I get onto the plane and the time I get off reading. I’m so boring. Yesterday I browsed around the airport bookstore and couldn’t find the right book. Nothing really leaped out at me. Eventually I settled on a book called Sugar. It is a 400+ page history of sugar. Needless to say, it is quite fascinating. No, really! The author shows just how great an impact sugar has had on the world and through the first couple hundred pages I’ve learned a lot. Honest. I’ll write a review when I’ve finished it.

Yesterday’s flight was interesting. Because it was Air Canada, it was an hour late leaving the ground. They compensated for their tardiness by offering free alcohol—something I’ve never seen before (and a deal I’m not interested in taking advantage of!). I was sitting next to a guy who staked his claim to all neutral ground and to about 30% of my space. He wasn’t a particularly big guy, but somehow he seemed to overflow. The seats on this plane were particularly narrow so perhaps that didn’t help. Before we even left the ground he had already fallen asleep and was continually moaning rather than snoring. He’d take a deep breath and then go “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” Again and again. It was kind of funny, really. He didn’t say a word the whole time but did take the time to scowl at me when a little corner of the packet of the snack we had been given blew over into his area. You never know who you’re going to be rubbing shoulders with (quite literally) when you fly. I’m never sure if a prefer the surly, quiet types or the happy, chatty types. I’m always hoping for the opportunity to have some good conversation, but so far that has usually eluded me.

And that’s all I’ve got for you today. I will check in with some conference updates over the weekend. Meanwhile, if you would be willing to pray for me, that God would bless me as I seek to share His Word tomorrow, I’d be grateful!

And by way of P.S., since I did not have opportunity to write an A La Carte today, I thought I’d make you aware of this. Boundless Magazine has just published an article I wrote called Involuntary Community. It is based on an article I first wrote here but has been extended, tidied up, and I hope, made better.


  • Building Churches

    Building Churches Out of Other Churches

    What is your church really made of? Or perhaps better said, who is your church really made of? This is something we all do well to ponder from time to time, for there are good ways and bad ways, better ways and worse ways to fill a church.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (February 19)

    A La Carte: Don’t let your fears hold back your children / Denominations in an age of online over-exposure / Full-circle prayers / Secret things and revealed things / Building habits / John Mark Comer’s view of God / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (February 18)

    A La Carte: Very cool birds / The way to combat anxiety / Do not hinder yourself / The sacred mundane / Thriving in women’s ministry leadership / Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (February 17)

    A La Carte: Wisdom for online dating / Anything can be an idol / The great danger / Unconfessed sin / Sins we love to ignore / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Quality Time

    Quality Time

    People of all faiths pray. Some pray to gods, some to ancestors, some to nature, and some to the universe, but all speak out words, all utter desires, all hope to be heard. But Christians pray differently and Christians pray confidently, for we pray to a Father. We alone “have received the Spirit of adoption…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (February 15)

    A La Carte: Resisting temptation / Strange familiarity / The reluctant polemicist / A new Getty hymn / The power of one bitter thought / Better than a holy year / and more.