Why Travel is Important to Me

I will readily admit that my dream of being a travel writer (or at least a blogger) is probably not going to materialize. As I look at my own blog, I can see that I really like to jump from one thing to another. Most of the time I'm gushing or complaining about something in my life. On the rare occasion, I've (hopefully) said something intelligent about theology.

But I was excited about the travel thing. To be perfectly honest, I'm excited about travel in general. I have realized that travel is one of those things that I value, and that I will spend time and money to be able to do. Someone pointed out that we hardly have a mortgage (since we rent the other half of our duplex). I don't have kids (or plans to have kids). Where does my money go...into travel. Iceland was exciting because it was a location that no one had really thought about. There are a million other places that are just as exciting. Some are in the US, and many are abroad.

I also enjoy that I get to travel some for my work. I've always been able to finagle a trip or two out of my job, but this is expected of me. In just a couple of weeks, I'll be going to a small town near Toronto, New York, and Chicago for a full week. I might be a little tired of traveling after that, but I think that the travel bug will stay with me.

Beyond just traveling for work, I want to make sure that I can travel somewhere to really experience the area. For Labor Day, Richard and I and a friend took a trip around the Four Corners area. There was no work involved (except what I did when I got internet access). It was just an opportunity to see Monument Valley, Mesa Verde National Park, and Canyon de Chelly National Monument.

That's travel for the sake of travel.

Where's your next trip? Inspire me.

I Put Myself Out There

Perhaps against my better judgement, I have waded into the public discussions about the adoption of a Social Statement on Human Sexualtiy and the Ministry Recommendations at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

There has been a lot of discussion on a gay blog called Queerty.com. I don't normally read the blog, but I ran across it when looking up news articles about the Churchwide Assembly. Then, a few friends appeared in the blog, some as the subject and some as authors. I was then contacted to write a piece that described LC/NA's point of view.

Currently, the main problem with my piece is that it is REALLY long (even I can see that). I also wrote it and put it out there rather quickly, so there wasn't a lot of review.

Anyway, you can judge for yourself.