lifeasmission

This past weekend was great. Friday night I went with some friends to hang out down on Beale St….

by the way - if you eat dinner at Alfred’s, don’t tell anyone because they will laugh at you - apparently you are ONLY supposed to dance there!

and then to a trendy little place called swiggs. On Saturday morning, after extensive training at Shelby Farms (a new favorite spot), I ran in my first official race - a 5k and ate with some friends at the Blue Plate Cafe, which was awesome.

be sure to note the awesomeness of my newest thrift store t-shirt

That evening 20 or so young adults got together for dinner at McAlisters

and then went to an event sponsored by a great local ministry, Habitat for Hope, which was to feature Derek Webb (whom I have blogged about before) and Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz and some other cool books. Derek was actually unable to make it as he lost his voice the day before, but Andrew Peterson did a great job filling in and then Donald Miller spoke. He talked about story - the way we intrinsically resonate with story, the way stories shape us, and the opportunity we have to tell an amazing story with our own lives. Being someone who puts a lot of stock in narrative approaches to Scripture and theology, I liked what he was laying down, but I’m not sure he thought about his (Bible-belt) audience enough in terms of his presentation. You can listen to the talk here - it’s not the one from the other night, but the same one that he gave at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, MI a few months back.

Sunday morning was an energizing gathering with the Living Hope community. The more people I get to meet (and remember!) the more I love being around to have conversations. Went to lunch at a good BBQ place with some folks after that and got to watch No Country for Old Men (again) later that night.

Yay for fun weekends!