Life in every breath of hustle and bustle...

Greetings from the road! I’ve been specifically charged with telling you a bit about our time last Thursday, though I want to spend a bit of time telling you about the Imago Dei home community we had the privilege of spending time with on Wednesday night. After our short time with Don Miller, which I hope will produce a separate entry from me, the group headed across town where Chase, David, Rob and I popped in about 15 minutes late to join a group of about 25 people stretching the walls of a small living room in a modest neighborhood in the Mount Tabor region of Portland. I’m not sure exactly what happened before we arrived, but there were Imago Dei songbooks hanging out on the living room table, a guitar leaning against it, and they were just finishing praying, so I put two and two together (honestly, does that phrase make sense?) and I decided that they were probably playing with each other’s babies. We introduced ourselves by going around the circle, saying our names, our favorite book of the bible, and why it was our favorite. Afterwards they passed out typed copies of the third chapter of the letter to the Ephesians, and we read it aloud together. A guy named Scott offered a review from the previous week and talked a bit about the history, and the floor opened up for questions/thoughts/etc. It was hard at first to pick up on the vibe in the room because I was not familiar with who the normal faces were, I did not know the character of each person, and I felt a bit imposing as a sort of one-time member. Compared with the friendliness and familiarity of Church at the Lofts back in Clemson, the Imago Dei group felt a bit awkward at first, a bit forced at the start, but as we dug into the scripture, people started asking questions and sharing a bit, it became apparent that everyone there was looking to discover what the real Jesus was like, and see how their lives might be changed in the process of searching the scriptures for answers. As people become more and more engaged in discussion, I began to feel like one of them, just a guy who believes he’s seen a glimpse of the Truth and wants to know more. After breaking, there was plenty of time to speak more personally with members of the group, now friends, who prayed for us and expressed big hopes for the remainder of our trip. Big thanks to Hannah for bringing brownies, and Aaron for leading by his example of service to his family there. Humble dudes inspire me like crazy. If you are reading this, please pray this home community, particularly that leaders would emerge that could begin another home community out of the existing one, since their numbers have grown quite large for one group. Also pray that someone would take on a regular prayer leader position there.

After leaving the Imago Dei house church, we headed towards Philomath, OR, a town about 2.5 hours south of Portland where we were set to stay at Leigha’s home. After a nap and a stop at Burgerville (which I think is the hammiest name for a burger joint…does anyone else vaguely remember Doug Pickles taking Patty Mayonnaise there?), we arrived around midnight and were greeted very warmly by Leigha’s parents, who woke up to welcome us to their home and show us around. It was great to have carpet to sleep on and a hot shower to wash out the sand out of our hair, and I think we were all pleased to wake up and enjoy a comfortable and easy start to our Thursday morning. Not that a chilly and cloudy Cannon Beach morning on the Pacific isn’t nice, but honestly, I think the whole world would agree that Philomath gots the goods. We woke up early to the rustlings of Leigha’s golden retriever, who’s name I’ve forgotten, but who’s character I will never forget because of her relentless efforts to pick up everything in sight and walk around aimlessly with it. We munched on a huge waffle/eggs/grits(!)/sausage/bacon breakfast and relaxed as the morning became the afternoon.

Around 2pm (actually the time we were set to be in Eugene to pick up our car), we started heading south, but not before stopping at Mountain View Elementary School in nearby Corvallis, where we reflected a bit on a story we were told before we left...

Our trip to Eugene took almost an hour, and we arrived around 4pm jamming away to DCF’s Liturgy cd which, might I add, rocks la casba. I don’t really have much to say about Eugene…it was pretty much just a strategic spot for car rental/dinner/concert. Other than that it was not very appealing, which I think isn’t helped by the fact that the town is named Eugene. I am brought back to days of old watching the movie Grease, starring Eddie Deezen as the nerd, Eugene Felnic (see picture below). I wonder how many folks think about that guy whenever they visit this town. Bummer, Eugene, bummer.








Since I'm sure you are wondering, you can visit Eddie Deezen’s fan site here.









We arrived in Eugene and went straight to Hertz where we rented the car that will take us all the way down to L.A., which made me feel all grown-up, although I had nothing to do with the actual rental except that I offered my approval of the trunk space in our vehicle of choice. In case our mothers are reading this, I’d like to add that we think we’re covered by Rob’s insurance so we opted not to buy theirs, but just in case, we’re driving extra carefully. Sleep well.

After renting our car, we were hoping to have time to stop in and hang out at the Church of Servant King for a bit. However, our time crunch didn’t allow it, so we decided to push on. To read a bit about these unique folk, google ‘em or check out the Highwaymen and their blog here.

We left Eugene for nearby Venata, OR were we took in a perfomance by Death Cab for Cutie and Mates of State at the Secret House Vineyard. I’ve been pretty pumped about this night for a while. This cool vineyard is nestled in the hills of the Willamette Valley in western Oregon, and offers a pretty spectacular view of the landscape around 6:30, which was the concert start time. Unfortunately, this might not be the ideal hour to start a rock concert, particularly for this crowd. Many of the kids seemed like the kind of folk who probably just woke up, or at least they looked like they had just rolled out of bed. But of course as I’m writing this, I’m remembering that no one in our team has showered in 5 days (unless you count Adam’s bird bath in Target this morning). Mates of State went on at 6:30 sharp (we know because we missed the first bit). They have a cool interaction on stage, and give off this vibe that makes one suspect that they’re really really into each other. They made tons of eye contact, and laughed at each other frequently in between their really happy shout/sing style, which was pretty cool. If twas ever a Chandler and Monica Bing of indie music, these cats are them. Death Cab went on a bit later and opened with a really slow song, which was probably a bad opening song decision considering that the daytime crowd really needed a tasty bar of Bit-o-Pep. Ben Gibbard talked a little about the vibe, saying “Believe me, it’s as awkward for us as it is for you,” to which bassist Nick Harmer signaled his agreement by cringing and cowering beneath the invisible awkward monster in front of him. Ben was pretty funny, and their music rocks, so I think everyone had a pretty good time. I spent some time thinking about the mysterious appeal of darkness, and how someone might enjoy the same music at a concert in the dark but hate it in the light. I also thought about how it would be the perfect time to cover Kenny Chesney’s "When The Sun Goes Down." No go, though. As we got deeper into the show, I started really getting into the music, and I left really impressed by their overall performance. I think everyone else in our group had a good time too, which I was glad about. Whenever I go to concerts with friends, I always want them to have as good of a time as I’m having, especially when I’m having a really good time. Unfortunately, my camera was having issues this day, so I have no visuals to add…sorry. For anyone interested…

405
Your Heart Is An Empty Room
The New Year
Why You'd Want To Live Here
Title and Registration
Crooked Teeth
Summer Skin
Photobooth
Title Track
Company Calls
For What Reason
Soul Meets Body
Movie Script Ending
What Sarah Said
We Looked Like Giants
Transatlanticism (with Mates of State)
The Sound of Settling

Encore:
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
I'm Going Home (Sonics cover)
Marching Bands of Manhattan

After the show we hung out in a field outside the vineyard where everyone parked. We waited for traffic to clear out by throwing the frisbee in the dark through the pot-filled Oregonian air and listening to the conflicting tones of Santana, female shouting, and random guys with their guitars. We said goodbye to Leigha and Bracken, our travel buddies since Seattle who have been really great company and extremely helpful. You kids are awesome. Also, thanks to Big Red. I will never forget you.

After hopping into our car and joining the back of the line, the five of us (Austin, Chase, Rob, David, Adam) enjoyed some honest prayer which included a lot of thanks for the week’s blessings, prayer for certain people, and some humble requests concerning the rest of our trip. I think we realized that our trip thus far had been a bit planned out and comfortable, and that we were moving into a lot more uncertainty about the things to come, particularly where we might sleep each night. I was able to tell them about a great experience I had in Galway, Ireland during Spring Break 2005, which was to me was a very personal testimony to God’s goodness towards poor travelers like ourselves who believe that God provides much for the faithful. It was a great moment in road-trip history, and a good start to a late night 4-5 hour trek, which would include my first breath in the beautiful state of California.