Day 1

I most always wake up late. Actually, I'm not always late and I wasn't today, so let's say I most always wake up inconvenienced, and today my inconvenience arrived at 8:30am. Sunday school is closing fast and I haven't packed for my 6 day trip to Omaha, Nebraska, for which I'm due to leave in 3 hours.

My impression of Nebraska has been and is a flat, corn-colored void with occasional earth-dents they call 'cities'. Nebraska is that place next to Iowa, which is that place next to Illinois, home of Chicago. Despite my impression, I'm glad to escape Texas for a week. I love my home - I just bought a house there. I guess there's a comfort being in a place where I'm an unknown. No one has ever seen me before, nor will they see me again for some time, if ever. Is that an abatement of some responsibility? Am I drinking escapism? I think maybe I am, just a little. Why else would I look forward to a week in Nebraska?

.........

It's Sunday night, my first in Omaha. After I landed, I took a long walk through downtown, which to my surprise is actually pretty extensive. Several new developments and improvements make you think you're in a much larger city. There is a distinct culture to Omaha, and I caught it before I ever met a single person. In fact, you could say I caught it before I saw a single person. I took a long evening walk through a very large and well-developed downtown district, and for much of it I was the only pedestrian in sight. And really, I do mean the only one. Most of my walk I was completely alone in this big commerce centre. I actually loved it. I've never seen anything like that, and I doubt I ever will again.

Silence is powerful - it draws out all that words cover in misdescription and noise, and speaks directly to the soul. Silence speaks with confidence and maintains humility, and in my experience that is one powerful, powerful combination. Maybe I need to practice silence some more, cause most times I feel lacking in both of those areas. Cause right now I'm a guy trying to find his feet in life; learning how to swim and walk and ride a bike all over again. I am trying to find my feet as a man, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do once I find them. I just know right now I'm trying to keep my ears open - trying to keep perspective on my life and God's role in it - and trying to hear him in the silence I've now found as I keep walking on, looking for my feet, in Omaha.