So this week I’m on a road trip. It’s sort of a make up date from last September when I had my “cardiac incident.” I was scheduled to go to my first U2 concert two days after I got out of the hospital. I didn’t make it….to the concert.
U2 is a band I have grown to really love and going to one of their concerts is on my bucket list. My biking buddy Steve who lives in Nashville, TN, invited me to stay with him and go to the concert there this Saturday. He already had the tickets, so I had to go.
It’s a road trip because I’m driving down to Nashville so I can take my bike and ride with Steve. On the way down, I stopped for a day or so at my brother Kevin’s house just across the Mississippi river from St. Louis. My sister-in-law Robin came through with tickets to the Cardinals game… seven rows up from the dugout…how great is that!
Road trips have always been a source of worry for me. They have occurred either as a part of a family vacation or a youth mission trip. This trip is different…it’s just me, I don’t have to worry about what anyone else needs or wants to do. I got the 4 Runner checked out… packed some clothes and my cycling stuff and took off after church. I didn’t have a reservation for where to stay on the first night out… I didn’t want one… I just went as far as I wanted and then I stopped for the biggest cheeseburger I could find. (it is vacation).
When you are just driving down the interstate where some thoughts linger, there comes a different sense of perspective. One perspective I’ve reflected upon during those long miles (Illinois….it is a very long state) is how fortunate I am to have a make-up opportunity to see a band. I must confess that I have not been a particularly compliant cardiac patient. Some of the choices I’ve made about diet and stress management have not been what I learned in my time in cardiac rehab.
For most of my life, I would have quickly become entrapped in the perspective that evolves into guilt and shame about my lack of attention. But it’s different today… I’m not sure why. Maybe this different perspective is because I’ve got more time to listen to whatever voice is speaking to me, telling me that I’m a little hard on myself. The same voice also reminded me that the truth of life, as long as you are around to live it, is that you do not run out of second chances when it comes to God’s patience, presence and mercy.
I’m hoping that at the concert I hear one of my favorite U2 songs called ironically for me “13.” It has an alternate title, “A Song for Someone… Someone Like Me.” The song has a chorus that I have quoted a couple times. This chorus is going around in my head on this road trip…so here it is again.
There is a light we can’t always see
If there is a world, we can’t always be
If there is a dark, then we shouldn’t doubt
And there is a light, don’t let it go out.
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
U2 is a band I have grown to really love and going to one of their concerts is on my bucket list. My biking buddy Steve who lives in Nashville, TN, invited me to stay with him and go to the concert there this Saturday. He already had the tickets, so I had to go.
It’s a road trip because I’m driving down to Nashville so I can take my bike and ride with Steve. On the way down, I stopped for a day or so at my brother Kevin’s house just across the Mississippi river from St. Louis. My sister-in-law Robin came through with tickets to the Cardinals game… seven rows up from the dugout…how great is that!
Road trips have always been a source of worry for me. They have occurred either as a part of a family vacation or a youth mission trip. This trip is different…it’s just me, I don’t have to worry about what anyone else needs or wants to do. I got the 4 Runner checked out… packed some clothes and my cycling stuff and took off after church. I didn’t have a reservation for where to stay on the first night out… I didn’t want one… I just went as far as I wanted and then I stopped for the biggest cheeseburger I could find. (it is vacation).
When you are just driving down the interstate where some thoughts linger, there comes a different sense of perspective. One perspective I’ve reflected upon during those long miles (Illinois….it is a very long state) is how fortunate I am to have a make-up opportunity to see a band. I must confess that I have not been a particularly compliant cardiac patient. Some of the choices I’ve made about diet and stress management have not been what I learned in my time in cardiac rehab.
For most of my life, I would have quickly become entrapped in the perspective that evolves into guilt and shame about my lack of attention. But it’s different today… I’m not sure why. Maybe this different perspective is because I’ve got more time to listen to whatever voice is speaking to me, telling me that I’m a little hard on myself. The same voice also reminded me that the truth of life, as long as you are around to live it, is that you do not run out of second chances when it comes to God’s patience, presence and mercy.
I’m hoping that at the concert I hear one of my favorite U2 songs called ironically for me “13.” It has an alternate title, “A Song for Someone… Someone Like Me.” The song has a chorus that I have quoted a couple times. This chorus is going around in my head on this road trip…so here it is again.
There is a light we can’t always see
If there is a world, we can’t always be
If there is a dark, then we shouldn’t doubt
And there is a light, don’t let it go out.
Keep the Faith,
Pastor Dan
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