A day at the Monastery with E. Glenn Hinson

I seriously have had the best day of my life!!! Ok, not the best day of my life but the best day I have had in a long time!!! That's more like it.

This morning we got up early after a night out with some great friends (Jarrod and Alex) and headed to the seminary to hop on a charter bus headed to the monastery. A group of about 40 people, including me, roger, jarrod and alex where going to the monastery with E. Glenn Hinson to celebrate his academic achievements. We had a wonderful time!! It was such a beautiful day to be walking about the monastery with such important people in Baptist History. I feel so blessed that we had the opportunity to do such a thing. I tried my best to soak up everything that was said.

After listening to the monk (Bro, Paul) who had studied under Thomas Merton, speak about his time at the monestery and his time with Merton and Hinson, we all took a walk to the statues. It was just one of those sereal "oh my gosh am I really here?" moments. Then we walked back to the chapel and prayed the sext hour with the monks (AWESOME). I know, but it gets even better. Then we were taken to the guest house and served a lunch of mash potatoes, chicken, gravy, beans, and chocolate cake. So, here we are all gathered around a table with Dr. Hinson, two monks that studied under Thomas Merton (Bro. Paul and Father James) eating delicious food and listening and soaking up all the stories that everyone is telling. It was amazing. I am still in shock. In utter shock.

When Roger and I got back home we made our way over to Lowes (who knows why) and bought some chairs to go on our back porch. While we were setting up the chairs I noticed a little garden snake wrapped around the deck. I was shocked but not to shocked. It looked kinda cute. After much deliberation (yeah right) we decided it best to kill it. I didn't want Paul or anna getting bit or the snake somehow making its way into the house.

We then decided to walk downtown to the local coffee shop and get some of Mr. Roger's (yes, that's the man's name. I'm not making this up) yummy pulled pork. On the way we decided it was too beautiful to eat inside so we got the food to go. We took it to the local museum and ate outside on their patio furniture (what, no one was there people, it was saturday). It was so relaxing.

On the walk back home we decided to stop by Sarah's house and see how she was doing. We were in for a treat and didn't know it. First of all, their house is STUNNING!!! I mean FOR REAL!!! AMAZING!! BREATH TAKING!!! Second, they LOVE art and collect it. We found out that they used to collect Russian orthodox icons and actually had a grand exhibit at a local university. Anyway...AWESOME. Each piece in their house has a WONDERFUL story behind it and we were lucky enough to hear several stories. Apparently both Sarah and her Father love to paint as well. One day they filled up balloons full of paint, she climbed up on the roof and her dad held a canvas in the yard as she threw the balloons down. Another time her Father was painting outside on this massive canvas and all of a sudden it started to pour the rain. he thought "oh well, I guess that painting is ruined :( ) Then the sun came out, dried the canvas and the wet smeared paint and he was left with a beautiful piece of art. It is stunning. It is as if God helped him paint. such a great story.

After looking at all of this amazing art we were taken up into the attic. It was just like one of those movie attics!!! There where random lights everywhere, random AWESOME toys everywhere and best of all there was a swing set that sarah's dad had built for her and her sister. It was connected to one of the rafters. My breath was taken away. What a wonderful world they have created for themselves. They have such a beautiful house and an even more amazing home. I feel so blessed to have this family in my life. They are truly unique and such an inspiration to me!

As Roger and I walked back to our new (old) home downtown we couldn't help but giggle and smile. We are so excited about the relationships that we have built and are building in our new little town. It's funny the places that God leads you when you decided to put on that blind fold, reach out your hand and say "lead me Lord. I trust you!"