The five Presbyterian Travelers headed out to Kentucky last week in search of a large number of Reformed Presbyterians. We knew that our destination was the great Blue Grass State of Kentucky and we knew that we had an 8 hour car ride ahead of us. We left Grand Rapids at 7:30am with a fine cup of Beaners to hold us over until lunch.
James Lanning was the co-pilot and about lunch time he decided that we needed to stop for some food. We stopped in Ohio or Indiana for lunch. There was a strip of fast food joints aligned around a corner that James thought we should take a picture of. The fast food area is on the corners of "Sharts-Central". I am still not sure why James thought that was important to note.
From there we headed across the appropriately named, Ohio river. This takes us over the Mason Dixon Line and we began to feel the cultural differences immediately. Notice the plethora of bumper stickers on this touring RV. The center-right sticker says
Possum, the other white meat. Opossum is the spelling. You can read the rest for yourself.
Some say that you even begin to look different as you head south. I am not so sure.
When we got to COVFAMIKOI we all had a blast. There were classes for Anna and Owen as well as for us. Anna learned about the Lost sheep, coin, and sons. Owen learned that playing with other kids can be fun.
We all tried to get online all week, but we could not until the last day. It took James (who has a degree in computer nerdology) to hook up the internet. Lydia was pleased to have a husband who was 'unplugged'.
We opened our room as the Starbucks room. We ground and brewed almost 2.5 pounds of French Roast over the week. We hosted many great visitors including the irenic Dr. Roy Blackwood. He told us great stories of church planting and being faithful to his call. We also had many LONG hours of discussion and reflection.
Here is Anna outside of our dorm building. She really had a great time, even though she was forced out of bed at 7:30 every morning. This is a huge change in our family.
James was COVFAMIKOI master. He pretty much met all 422 people that were in attendance. It has to be the really great hat- or is the fake Ray Bans?
The window treatments were something to be desired.
Here Owen and I enjoy a cup of Starbucks.
This was our room. We lined 3 mattresses along the floor for our family. (James had his own room as well the rest of the people that we met there.)
Pure class Lanning. Pure class.
This was not at Asbury College, but at some church along the highway on the way home. It is a giant icon of an English Jesus. Notice the church in the background is two stories. That gives an idea of how huge this thing is.
I thought that he was drowning and looking for help. Shawn thought that it was a touch-down Jesus that commemorated the correlation between pro-football and Sabbath breaking. Not sure which it was.
Either way, we had a great time there. It was very encouraging spiritually as well as challenging on many points. Shawn, James, and I got to watch Rev. Lanning be examined for a number of hours. We met a lot of great people and got to sing Psalms acapella with almost 500 hundred Covenanters. I cannot wait until next year when 2000 gather at Calvin for the RP International Conference.
We really got to witness God's faithfulness to the covenant of Grace as he has preserved this group of Reformed Presbyterians since the 1600s in Scotland. He reminded us of this on the way home.
Every once in a while there comes along a book that is a must have. I think that this year's must have book is The Dangerous Book For Boys. This book is filled with great tips for boys on everything from tying knots to making batteries. It is also a book that deals with a lot of people, places, and things that boys should know. It discusses the presidents, wonders of the ancient world, and even gives a nice explanation of the 10 commandments. There are also some indoor rainy day things that boys can do, including some cool art projects.
