I have done some crazy things to win a hearing for the truth. A couple years ago I was preparing to speak at camp. Standing in the front of the chapel the camp pastor was talking about the previous speakers who used some pretty zany attention-getting antics. My friend said; “One guy rode a skateboard down the aisle and jumped the altar when I introduced him.”

Get in your car some evening this week. Get out of town. Let the radio rest in silence for right now. Listen to the sounds of the countryside. Turn off the air conditioner and roll down all the windows. Drive slowly down a country road with the cool of evening coming on. Breathe deep and look close. Notice the honest smells of soil and living things on the evening air. Do you see it? Do you feel it?There is abundance …

Years ago it was my duty to drive a van-load of students to a camp on Schroon Lake in up-state New York. As soon as I arrived I was greeted with a series of adjustments and disappointments. I would not be able to stay on the Island with the students. I would be in an old inn on the mainland instead of the nicer conference center. The Inn was not air-conditioned. I would not be alone but would have to share my room with a …