on the road again.....

just to backtrack, I didnt mention that on monday night dan led a men's bible study at his house. it was a small turnout - three other guys - one from the ex-prisoners program and two who don't go to church. an interesting evening! we often think that people will come to church and then join a bible study. dan approaches it the other way round. he knows that there a people who moght want to talk about God, the Bible and the meaning of life and not feel welcome or comfortable in Sunday worship. so he just invites people whom he gets to know in the community.

tuesday was a cultural and religious experience. i went to a 6 am breakfast with dan and carl, his 'overseer'. carl had been the pastor at krall's church when we first visited. the mennonite churches in the area are looking at joining the larger US Mennonite Conference. We had a broad discussion about church union, homosexuality, team ministry, and supervision of ministers, all before 7.30 am!!!

then dan and joyce we went driving for the day, and along the way had long discussions about growing disciples, since they feel that their church has stalled. it was good to be able to offer some clues and ask some questions.

the tour was a cultural and religious experience! we spent the morning at cabelas, a HUGE outdoor, camping and hunting store.  more stuffed animals than you'd see at a museum. an ENORMOUS fake mountain in the middle of the store with stuffed polar bears, deer of all kinds, elk and moose, bears, mountain cats, bison, etc, etc, and live fish in a large pond. the place also has several HUGE live fish tanks, a bow shooting range, a 'toy' gun shooting range, and a restaurant where I ordered and then couldnt eat the icky breakfast. the amount and range of hunting stuff was mind-boggling and scary.

photos here - go and marvel!

the religious experience was a visit to the martin guitar factory at nazareth, pennsylvania. martin guitars wasstarted in new york by a german immigrant in 1833, and later moved here. over 200 guitars in the museum, including many old guitars and many 'tribute'/limited edition guitars honouring famous musicians. the factory tour was sensational. their guitars have a high degree of 'hands on' construction, at the same time as they cleverly use automation for various parts.

I got to play a couple of guitars, but the 'pickin room' was occupied by some apparently famous country music due and his entourage, so I didnt get in to play the really nice stuff (we waited for an hour... sigh...) still, a wonderful experience and I bought a t-shirt! i also discovered that steve earle plays m-series martins like mine, and that an associate of his came up with the design - a 0000 series jumbo body with 00 series depth.

i stayed in philadelphia overnight with dan & joyce's daughter maria and her family, and then yesterday afternoon flew to nashville. i'm staying at the pathways house owned by the upper room. last night i tried to eat a huge slab of sensational bbqed ribs at the souths treet restaurant (the ribs won!)