the wintry north

Yesterday we drove up to Rochester Minnesota to stay with our friends Denis and Margie. This morning I walked to the the coffee shop at the end or their street to get a latte and noticed that it was a bit chilly outside. Actually the temperature was right around 0 (that's about -17 for those of you reading in new zealand), so yeah, chilly is a fitting description.


Anyway, we've come to Rochester for the annual L'abri conference. Denis and I will be giving a workshop on yearning and the longing of the heart in popular music. We did a similar workshop at last year's conference and it went well. We had a good turn out as well as good discussion and participation from those who attended. Even though it went well last year I'm a bit anxious about it. I always get a bit nervous before I do any sort of public speaking. It's nothing like weak-in-the-knees-feel-like-I'm-gonna-puke nervousness, just a bit of discomfort and anxiety. Most of this nervousness comes from extreme self-awareness. I know that apart from God's grace nothing I say will be of any help or encouragement to those listening. For this particular workshop I have a bit of additional anxiety due to the fact that I feel like a fraud. I feel like I don't have anything to say about this subject that people don't already know. I'm not a musician, I don't have an exhaustive knowledge of music or anything close to it. All I have is my personal experience with music as an average thirty-something guy. In the end I hope my experience will be relatable to other average people trying to make sense of their experience of music.

After the conference Brooke and I will be spending some down-time with Denis and Margie. They are some of our favorite people in the world aand we are elated that we can get some alone time with them. Brooke will be leaving on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and I will be hanging out in Rochester until March 1. Over the next few weeks I'm looking forward to listening to some good music, watching some good movies, sipping some good wine, and wrestling with issues of faith and life with good friends