Joy

I originally wasn't too sure about this trip. I'm a big guy and big guys don't do well in the car for long periods of time. I'm sure watching me crawl out of the car from the backseat is a comedic moment for the men I'm with. I also kind of like the beach and the ocean. So driving for 30+ hrs each way isn't exactly my idea of rest and vacation...

But man was I wrong.

In the past six days I have: laughed harder than I've laughed in a very long time, heard more puns than I care to think about, driven more miles than I have in my life, eaten at 3 restaurants from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, walked through 3 major US cities, driven through 9 states, spoken with 5 perfect strangers about their walks with God, seen mountains, rivers, forests, the pacific ocean and wrestled around with 2 huskies and a mut. The list goes on and on.

I'm out here with 4 of my best friends, enjoying an experience I'll treasure for the rest of my life. We were ridiculously taken care of by some family friends of Michael's and they showed us the definition of hospitality. They even took us out to dinner at an elementary school that was converted into a bar/restaurant.

And man is nature side of things breath-taking.

I think I'm feeling.....joy.

Joy is one of those tricky things that is really hard to define. Its more than emotional, its spiritual. Its contentment of the soul. Its every time that I take an experience/sight in and have to immediately thank God for the moment. The combination of the wonder of nature and the love of brothers is enough to throw me into a constant state of joy.

This reminds me of something I read during the car ride here. Its from a book called "The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard.

It was something I've never really thought about before. The idea that God is "simply one great inexhaustable experience of all that is good and true and beautiful and right." I mean we get excited about clear night skies, good conversations and sandy beaches but God is surrounded by "Towering clouds of gases trillions of miles high, backlit by nuclear fires in newly forming stars, galaxies cartwheeling into collision and sending explosive shock waves boiling through millions of lightyears of time and space."

We get excited about a few tropical fish in a tank, and God has the ocean!

I don't have any idea what thats like. But going westward with 4 of my friends has given me just a glimpse.

This must be what joy feels like.