Some long sentences on the beginning of summer, for it has already been quite overwhelming....

Dear Lonely Blog,

How long has it been since I have spoken to thee? Quite a while it seems... and while I was really very tempted to give up on you (for I am afraid that I was losing some interest in attending to thee) I have instead taken up a new resolution to continue on in keeping thee updated, so long as time permits. But alas, it is summer... time permits! And so long as I choose to make thee a priority, you may yet have a longer life.

Only a few weeks into the summer and I have found myself in many beautiful places. So many places in fact that I can hardly keep track of them all. Near the end of May I had the privilege to go to Turkey and Greece with a group of amazing people... 50 to be exact. Most of them were students, a few were faculty. It was an amazing experience, one I have yet to wrap my head around... one that I doubt I will ever wrap my head around. There is so much history I can hardly keep it in my head. It would be absurd to try to remember it ALL (There might be something to be said for trying). Gratefully, I have the benefit of having kept a journal about the trip and as I re-read my entries, and continue to study in order to fill in where my understanding of human antiquity is deficient, I may gain a better comprehension of the experience as a whole. And while I may wish that I had been better prepared for the trip, as my friend Anja told me on the last day in Corinth, this experience will be a resource for us that we can draw from as we return home to "make tents." I am so glad that I was given the opportunity to not only go on such a lovely journey with so many fantastic people to so many fantastic places, but also to have gone on a pilgrimage to the places of Paul's ministry and the conquering of Delphi... even to the end of the world. I am glad to be reminded of the strength and of the endurance given to us by the Spirit, of the example set for us by God's servant Paul, not only in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ, but as we study and work and make tents. I am very glad though, for those times when you can take a break from making tents and for once in your whole life pray in one voice at the theater in Ephesus and worship our Savior together in the Body.

We are One in the Spirit. We are One in the Lord.
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored.
And they will know we are Christians by our love.