a field trip....

On Friday, we embarked on a little field trip.  Our goal was to drive to Chicago, visit our friends Mason and Valerie at Wheaton College. Steve Good, Val Francis, Eli Ruggles, Carter Good and myself climbed into the Good mobile and set off for our destination. We enjoyed great conversation along the way.  We had to stop for lunch at Panera Bread in Dayton.  We stopped to replace the windshield wiper blade that was subsequently ripped off of the van just north of Indianapolis (thank you NAPA). We stopped 10 miles later for Starbucks coffee. We missed a toll booth (we all smiled at the camera, the bill soon to be mailed to the home of Steven M. Good). We finally arrived at Wheaton.  We toured the dorm and met Andrew, Mason's roommate and few other guys from Fischer 5 West. We grabbed dinner with Mason and Valerie.  It was great to catch up and here how excited they both were about life at Wheaton. Mason continued to explain all of the history of Wheaton and special events like the Kingdom Run. Sounds like they are having a great time.

After dinner we went back to the Chapel where we took in a Phil Keaggy Concert.  This guy is unbelievable. I have seen Phil a few times and he continues to amaze me with his creativity and humbleness. He played 15 minutes shy of 3 hours.  I don't think this is typical.  It is obvious that he LOVES playing the guitar, but more important, he took a moment to share the gospel.  That was very cool. After the show, we went back to the Stoop for some ice cream and more touring. We finally crashed about 1:30AM.

We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel where we ran into Larry Thomas. He played the Soup Nazi in a Sienfeld episode. He was wearing a t-shirt that said, "Master of my domain". Steve and I recognized him and a quick trip to the W confirmed our suspicions. 

We met up with Mason and Valerie for a tour of the Billy Graham Museum.  It was a cool exhibit until I violated copyright laws by taking a picture of some cool art on display (my apologies to the artist, I have no plans to sell them). It rained the entire time we were there. We decided to not take the train downtown, but to take the kids to Target to stock up on supplies. We grabbed lunch at Giordonos, a famous chain of Chicago style pizzerias and then back to the dorm to say our goodbyes.

We started back to Ohio and it was pretty quiet in the van. I think everyone was tired.  After a while, Eli propped his laptop up on the dash of the car and we watched half the 4th season of the Office. Even though Steve assured us he was not watching, I believe the propping up of the laptop on the front dash is illegal in all 50 states including Puerto Rico, but that doesn't keep the Office from being hysterically funny.

We arrived at my house at midnight on the nose and I crashed. All of this is worth visiting kids from our youth group. It is great to see them enjoying life, and hoping that maybe your experiences that you shared over the last 3 years may help them make great choices. I love these guys like they were my own kids, and honestly...i sort of felt like they were the last few years. I have so many more to go visit in due time. I love them. I hope they feel it.

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