Hello again! As I write this post, it’s 11:47 p.m. Central Time and the whole crew (myself included) are really tired. It seems that being up since 3:00 a.m. will do that to a person. Since I last posted from the Houston Airport, we’ve had an eventful experience. The flight to New Orleans was fairly uneventful which is always a good thing for a flight 🙂 After we arrived in the city, we dropped off our bags and walked the mile or so from our hotel to the convention center to get registered. After waiting there for forever…ok it was actually an hour, but it seemed like forever…we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the Superdome for “Opening Dome.”

One of the highlights of the trip for all those participating is getting to hear amazing music and speakers each night. We first heard from the Rev. Yehiel Curry who talked about all of us using the metaphor of good ol’ New Orleans gumbo. He said that we’re all just really ingredients in God’s big pot of gumbo and while we’re all different, blend to make a delicious meal.

Another speaker we had was Nadia Bolz-Weber. She’s a pastor in Denver, but you’d never know it from the way she appears…and that’s what her presentation centered around. She said that people really have this “idea” of what a Lutheran is and ultimately it makes no difference. She shared about her own walk of faith and how she came to be a Lutheran. It was a really awesome talk that I think everyone really enjoyed.

After we finished with Opening Dome, we were ready to leave when a huge thunderstorm began to move through the area. This meant we were kept in the dome for at least another half-hour and then had to run in the rain back to the hotel…such is life. We’re having a great time so far and are looking forward to tomorrow when we’ll “Practice Discipleship!” For now, I’m going to sleep…

Peace!