back from vacation

Back from a restful week away.

We ran the gauntlet as we headed out last Monday morning to surprise my folks and crash at their new condo on night one.

Was able to spend the morning with my Grandparents on Tuesday morning and while there Grandpa McIntyre passed along a great picture of he and grandma with Ronald Reagan when Grandpa served as the President of the National Association of Evangelicals. Way cool. Grandpa McIntyre served for many years as a denominational leader in The Wesleyan Church. (some old pics here)

From there we headed south to Cincinnati for a great night at The Great Wolf Lodge. While there we enjoyed some lunch Skyline Chili and a dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.

After that we headed to warmer weather in Charlotte, North Carolina to spend a few days with my old college roomate Scott Blair and his family. We had a great time with the Blairs and value the friendship that we continue to share. We visited the mother of all malls. We ate here and here . We laughed at this movie. Tons of fun.

Headed out on Saturday morning for a long road trip home…arrived safe and sound and revived for the days ahead.

Went last night to hear leadership guru John Maxwell speak at Res Life. I like Maxwell, I really do, but have heard much of his schtick before. I also thought he didn’t ground his talk in scripture, but he is still a master communicator who really does connect with his audience.

Gathered some fun stuff while away for your reading enjoyment…

Love him or hate him, Mike Huckabee is always good for a quote – “There is a greater chance that I would dye my hair green and get tattoos all over my body and do a rock tour with Amy Winehouse than there is that I would run for the Senate.” from The Morning News

John Burke (wrote a great book – No Perfect People) writes: “As leaders in a post-Christian society, our job is not making people grow or change. God is responsible for the growth, for changed hearts, but the soil is the responsibility of the leaders. Our task is creating the right soil, a rich healthy environment, in which messy people can come as they are and God can cause the growth over time. But have we considered the cultural soil needed for a healthy Christian community in a hard-packed, post-Christian society?”