Having already submitted a mid-vacation update, I wanted to take a moment to address the meaning and implication that the trip had for me…

This weekend’s Gospel asks, “Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?” Due to some reading like Switch and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, there was much more calculating the cost, intentionality about the story of this vacation well before I took it. And what a great difference that made.  Not only was the trip filled with wonderful experiences, but it also had some grace-filled surprises.

After getting in some writing while away for Youth Contact that made a metaphor about Back to the Future’s DeLorean and its flux capacitor, days later I actually tripped across a copy of the vehicle and caught this picture for it drove off.  The Saint tapestries in Our Lady of the Angels provided some wonderful quiet meditation.  Upon return on Thursday, I went to the beach to assist with a video for a conference and the day included many laughs, creativity, the police, and a gaggle of Hooters waitresses, (and, really, don’t most youth ministry activities??)  On my last day out of town, I received a call from a friend back home and she quickly insisted that I had been missing her… and I realized that she was right. (but, seriously, we won’t tell her, will we?)

I had gone away to remember why I love being home.