Six Conferences, Eight Weeks, Home Again

Living Waters Bible Conference
Danforth, Maine

I just figured out that I have spoken at six conferences plus two churches n the last eight weeks—MEF in CO, Word of Life in NY, Colonial Baptist Church in Cary, NC, Maranatha in MI, Cannon Beach in OR, Berean Bible Fellowship in Stroudsburg, PA, Pinebrook in PA, and Living Waters in ME. I’m not sure how many sermons I’ve preached, but it all adds up to a lot of traveling, a lot of preaching, a lot of packing and unpacking, a lot of time spent emptying my pockets so I can go through airport security, and a lot of late-night and early-morning phone calls to Marlene. The last one only applies to Maranatha, Cannon Beach and Living Waters. She made the rest of the trips with me. 

As I think about it, I am amazed that I haven’t lost any luggage or missed any connections. Later today I fly from Bangor, Maine to Detroit and catch a plane to Memphis where Marlene will pick me up. I have 45 minutes between flights in Detroit. That’s a little tight. Last Saturday I had the same thing on the way to Maine and found myself doing a fast walk along the lefthand side of the moving walkway because the Detroit airport has one of those underground passages that goes from one terminal to another. I made it with a few minutes to spare. 

If you do enough air travel, eventually you pile up enough miles that you become eligible for exit rows. Given my long legs, that’s a huge benefit. I’ve done plenty of flights where I was folded up like an accordion so the exit row really helps.

This morning we’re doing a question-and-answer time for my final session at Living Waters. I plan to post the Q&A starting on Monday. All week long I’ve been encouraging people to submit written questions, and we’ll also take them live during the session. We’ve gotten questions about forgiveness, Bible translations, polygamy, animals in heaven, the fate of those who never hear the gospel, the emergent church, pre-trib, mid-trib and post-trib, where was Joseph when Jesus died, did Jesus “descend into hell” and what does that mean, and does God change his mind.

Then there was this question—"What do you think of the Red Sox trading Manny Ramirez?”

Once we solve the mysteries of the Bible, theology, and major league baseball, it will be time to go home. It’s been a busy, hectic, exciting summer, but I will be very happy to sleep in my own bed tonight and wake up tomorrow not having to think about making another trip for a while.