Wow what a crazy weekend this has been. We had a group of friends in from Gainesville and it was nonstop from Saturday afternoon until lunch today. These folks are all college students at UF and part of our sending church. Anyway, we had a great time, but let me tell you, they got to see the real Mike and Amber. First of all, Jackson is still teething like crazy and doesn't sleep well when he's not in his crib (our little 2 bedroom townhouse got a workout this weekend). Also, Amber and I were at each other all weekend trying to juggle being hosts, the baby, and trying to have fun with our friends. There is no hiding a crappy attitude when your one-year-old is screaming at the top of his lungs and you have a few extra people in the house.

So, Rich, Ana, Paul, Connie, and Megan, thank you guys for putting up with our insanity this weekend. You guys are awesome guests (Ex: Paul spontaneously cleaned up our kitchen at 12:30 last night - I guess for a college student that's still early). We're excited to be a part of your journey in whatever way we can.

Well, I'm pretty fried to be perfectly honest. It occurred to me last week that I've been spending far too much time in front of this old computer pondering and pontificating and not enough time, well, just doing other stuff. We can't afford a vacation right now, but hey, we already live in Florida! So, without further adieu, I'm taking a week off from internet activity. Maybe I'll read some, play some golf, or just sit out on my back porch and talk to Jesus. Call it a long, extended sabbath.

On that note, I'll leave you with a quote to ponder...

"Johann Huizinga wrote a long and learned book, Homo Ludens, showing that culture is healthy only when it plays. Play is a distinctive mode of activity for humans. When we repress or neglect play we dehumanize culture. Huizinga writes to warn. As our civilization has advanced, it has lost touch with the distinctively human, and so while we show off a breathtakingly wealthy technology, our collective humanity has dipped well below the poverty level. We are less ourselves. Unpraying and unplaying, we deteriorate into skid-row consumers, life meagre with mere getting. Pastors must be in the avant garde of sabbath-keepers, reforesting our land, so savagely denuded by the humorless bulldozers, with playgrounds, prayergrounds." - Eugene Peterson, "Working the Angles"