July 28 - Road trip!!

I can not fully describe how weird this day was.. But I'll see what I can get out.

So it all started at 9:00 when I left for Chesterfield, VA where I would meet up with Jacob, Tory, and Brittany to drive to Chesapeake and hang out with Bluetree (who I HIGHLY recommend to anyone). I had just downloaded some campus church sermons the night before, however, I forgot to sync them to the ipod.. So I stopped in Lynchburg and borrowed Amy's (set me back half an hour). The rest of the drive was fine - I sat back and listened to Caner launch hand grenades. Finally, half an hour behind schedule, I got to Jacob's house. Tory had volunteered to drive, which seemed like a really good idea.. until she started driving. :) about an hour into the trip, out of no where Brittany realizes she's never seen this part of the road before. That's when Tory decided we should know that even with a GPS RIGHT in front of her, she's directionally challenged. We'd driven 20 minutes past our exit..

Eventually we got there and, after using the potty and reuniting briefly with Lucas, went on an adventure to a park. Honestly, I thought it was a pretty interesting park. Which means, while the other 3 tried to be lame-o's and swing - illegally might I add - I went on an adventure. There was a canal and overlooks and a bridge for the creek. The best part though, was the fact that in the middle of the park was a cemetary. Gravestones and everything. Of course they had been messed with, but the city did put up little fences about 3-4 ft high to make an attempt at keeping them out..

Even though we left an hour late, and spent all of 30 minutes at the park, we still had 2-3 hours to kill. We went to Autumn's and found it after 3 U-turns on her street. Seemed like it'd be a reasonably safe idea. Grandpa met us and seemed real nice, the siblings were ok, and nothing set off any red flags. Apparently there's this tree house they built. Pretty sturdy, except for the RIGHT LADDER SUPPORT!! It was a log they found I guess that was dead and had now rotted. So I may have pulled the steps out of that side on my way down. I can honestly say I didn't see that happening when I convinced Tory to climb up and I followed.. Next Autumn drove us down to see her horse in HER car that she was TOLD was drivable. In the middle of everything Grandpa (the nice old man we met earlier) has a melt down because she drove her car. Supposedly half of the car was not there. Soo, we drove back to the house and were told to run upstairs and hide or he'd yell at us.. It was kinda fun, like playing hide and seek. While we were 'hiding' we played Wii bowling. Autumn's little 9 year old brother, Ben, is probably my favorite 9 year old ever. Jacob wasn't doing so hot, and Ben said the "Wii has a brain and it doesn't want Jacob to win, so he doesn't." Great kid. Also, while we were there, I got called a fat 34 year old man.. that was a fun story too....

Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot I found awkward during/directly after the concert. Well, excluding "Mummy, when will we see Auntie again?" :) and feeling like the back left tire of an 18wheeler. Definitely the ride home was exciting. Telling stories, thinking you may have run over someone, and what some consider the 'hood - how can you go wrong?

2 Samuel 23:3-4
"The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: 'When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the Earth"
-- Honestly, I just opened my Bible today and found this verse. I really like this one though [and as a friend said -"I really just love scripture!! It's so awesome!!!" :) ] because it's so vivid and true. The person who rules in righteousness is like the light of sunrise on a cloudless morning. When I think of this, it makes me happy, joyful. Sunsets are happy; sun after a rain bringing forth grass is happy. Typically, these images don't make a person uneasy or sad. But why do we insist on telling our leader's they can't openly fear the Lord, and pick the ones who don't to make all of our important decisions?? This is God telling us who should be our leaders; who we should choose - those who rule in righteousness and fear of God.

All for now, I'll add the pictures from the weekend when my camera battery recharges..

Whatever it takes,
Ryan