On the Road to Michigan

8:16 PM We made it to Kalamazoo only a few minutes late. A young man named Joel picked me up. He’s a senior counselor at Gull Lake and a 2007 graduate of Wheaton College. He told me that attendance is up at the conference center this summer. Here’s one immediate and obvious difference between Gull Lake and Camp Nathanael in KY. The conference center is built on the shore of the lake, with many private homes all around the property. At Camp Nathanael we were way back in the mountains, in a sparsely populated region. Here we are in the middle of one of the most beautiful resort areas in America. The lake covers 2030 acres with 16 miles of shoreline. It is a spectacular blue-water lake, perfect for fishing and boating and swimming. A few minutes ago I saw several dozen white gulls resting a wooden raft near the pier. My room is about 30 feet from the lake. An amazing, impressive view.

1:05 PM I’m packed as if I’m taking off on a round-the-world tour–two bags, a large carry-on, and my laptop. One bag contains my clothes, the other bag is full of books–46 pounds worth–for the conference. Hopefully the bag will be lighter on the way home. The carry-on has a change of clothes (something I learned the hard way after losing my bags four or five times in the last year) plus the all-important travel printer. That printer has quite literally changed my life. Now I don’t have to have all my sermon notes printed before I leave. By taking the printer, I can adjust my talks as necessary during the week. And the laptop is essential for all the obvious reasons. Right now I’m connected to the Internet via the Cingular broadband card.

1:03 PM I’m now in the Memphis airport. I met a teacher from Tupelo who is on her way to Providence, Rhode Island for a week-long seminar on how teach the life and times of George Washington. She sounds very excited about the prospect. She also helped me find my way to B32, the gate for the flight to Detroit.

11:42 AM From an email received yesterday: “How can we pray? We’re praying for stamina, endurance, health and joy in his work.” That sounds about right to me.

11:39 AM At the moment I’m sitting in the Tupelo airport getting ready for yet another day of hopping across the country. We enjoy living here but flying from Tupelo can be difficult since there are only places you can go from here–by Northwest Airlines to Memphis or by Delta Airlines to Atlanta. So there is always a quick flight at the beginning of any trip. Today I fly to Memphis, change planes and fly to Detroit, change planes and fly to Kalamazoo. Someone will pick me up and take me to Gull Lake Conference Center where I will be speaking this week.