Minutes to Memories

Well, the 64th Pepperdine Bible Lectures are now in the books, but it was the 1st experience for me. And I give it a hearty two thumbs up.

From my first-timer perspective, there are three things that made this week worthwhile:

#1: Breathtaking nature (as I heard someone say - either Bobby Valentine or John Alan Turner, I can't remember which - if you can't teach people to see God in nature here, well, you should simply give it up)

#2: The (too) wide variety of excellent speakers (I attended 21 lectures this week, but I missed so much, too)

#3: Meeting neat people (just today, for instance, I had breakfast with a lady from Oregon who happened to be from Paragould, Arkansas, and at dinner I broke bread with the neatest elder from Long Beach, California)

I got to see my friends from the past, Scott and Jamie Gatlin, this week. I played phone tag with my friend, Jeneen Metz. I ran into my friend, Pam's, brother and sister-in-law tonight. I got to hang out quite a bit with Danny & Terri Dodd (which included time with neat guys like Bud Meyer and Jim Miller). I met Bobby Valentine in person, which was a distinct pleasure. I had the pleasure of seeing John Alan Turner again, and I had interesting private conversations with scholars such as Gary Holloway and Rubel Shelley. I met lots of people whose names I have already forgotten, from locations all over these United States. And I spent a LOT of time with Mikey, one of the coolest people in the universe.

But now I'm ready to go home. I miss my wife, and my daughters, and my mom who is at our house right now. So I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, too...

Good night Malibu.