Wow, it has been a long day on and off the Ashland Theological Seminary campus and I am beat. But often long days are good days and this was no exception. Will picked me up at 7:30AM and I interacted with Terry’s DMin (also known as demon) class. Anybody who is a friend of Ron Blue is a friend of mine. Then off to a local restaurant with Will and Dawn for breakfast – I had oatmeal with cranberries and English muffin.
Next stop, A-Roma, an Ashland landmark coffee shop for some really good Soy Chai and tender kindness. I am so thankful that hospitality is not a lost art. Precious people, one a Hospice Chaplain, sat around telling stories and bantering theology. A little taste of heaven, except there we will have had our theology corrected. I imagine we will spend the first hundred years or so apologizing for all the dumb things we said, especially some of the things we were absolutely certain about.
The day is a stunner, warm to about 80 degrees and everywhere I turn folks tell me it isn’t normal. I have salad for lunch with a group from the school and again there is lots of conversation and friendly give and take. Last night we had Sweet Potato Pie to celebrate Dawn’s birthday, but it seems she extends it for a week so we sing her Happy Birthday.
Will and I swing by and pick up his children, Sydney and Luke, from their respective schools. Syd did a 7th grade project on The Shack (see pic) and it is brilliant. I am honored and impressed. The areas that she focused on were some of my personal favorites. I don’t remember being that perceptive as a 7th grader. Syd is in ballet and younger Luke in Karate. I tell Luke that Karate is just ballet until you hit something.
Back at my room, I call Matt, a local pastor who has expressed ‘concerns’ regarding The Shack in the editorial section of the Gazette Times. He has indeed read the book, although it has been a while, and he did come to see speak me last night, leaving his name and number. A few minutes later he arrives on his bicycle and we head out for a walk through the campus and surrounding neighborhoods. I have to tell him to slow down a bit as I am having a little trouble keeping up. He is young, fit and intent. What follows is a wonderful conversation that goes all over the map; Reformed Theology, the Federal Headship of God, hierarchy and the Trinity, imagery in the book (which he liked btw), issues of Open Theism (Clark Pinnock), the purpose and place of Hell and a bunch of other light topics. After that we talked about more important things, his family, especially his two young daughters and how they are the best gifts that he will ever give this world. We finish back where we started, except it is now very clear that we are indeed brothers and that are unity rests not in our ability to agree, but in broken bread and poured out wine.
Supper in the Commons and I get invited to sit with a couple students. Lots of choices on the menu and I take full advantage. A quick shower and off to the final event of the day, which is the real reason I came to Ashland in the first place; gathering of about 100+ women around the topic of forgiveness. We did stray a bit off topic, but seemed to always find our way back. In a world where so many of us have been betrayed and abused, forgiveness is an unavoidable topic. As always, the Holy Spirit was very present, in the tears and questions, the hugs and loving kindness.
It’s now almost midnight and I am a contented tired. Quick call home and lights out. Tomorrow Will is going to drive me a couple hours to somewhere south of Toledo – I can’t help but remember that old John Denver song, “Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio, is like being no place at all.” Good thing it will be Friday.
On the road in the morning I will do a newspaper interview and then speak at a small 850+ person luncheon being hosted at Lourdes College in Sylvania. Then a recorded interview with a local TV Station, WTOL and off to the airport, heading via Minneapolis to Grand Forks, ND where I am sure I will arrive tired and … tired.
I sit here so grateful. I am depending on the angelic scribes who record all the bits and pieces of the incredible stories told by precious people, weaving them all into a tapestry of grace that one day we will stand before and be stunned into silence.
