One last week...

With the new year - it is New Year's Day today - I contemplate the next four months ahead. I've remembered a year past, with all of its difficult decisions and now look forward to a four month transition that I can only describe as adventuresome! Beginning January 10, I will be spending alternate weeks in Brownwood and Bozeman. I know the physical aspects of this adventure will be tough; nevertheless, the spiritual challenge will be invigorating. So now I have this week, January 1 - 9, to wrap up the planning process and tie up loose ends before I leave on Monday, January 10 with a 14' Uhaul

full of books, some furniture and clothes. I will be ending my 'preaching life' in Brownwood on Sunday evening, January 9th, preaching at Coggin Avenue Baptist Church. It is a fitting conclusion to the ministry part of my time in Brownwood. The next morning I load the Uhaul and head for Oklahoma City. As you can see, the truck is pretty mundane. But the journey, from Brownwood to Bozeman with stops in Oklahoma City, Wichita, Denver and Billings in the middle of winter will be an adventure in itself. My traveling companion will be my father.

We will be dressed in our warmest clothes for the journey although it could be as warm as 27º when we arrive in Montana! Nevertheless, you want to be prepared for the very real possibility of being stuck in a blizzard or stranded in the middle of Wyoming in negative temperatures!

While in Oklahoma though, I plan to make a side trip to see my Aunt in Tulsa and pick up a case of my favorite root beer: Weber's! A native Oklahoman can't go to Montana without it - as well as a few of their fine hamburgers! Weber's is an institution, where one can major in the field of culinary studies with emphases on Grillology, Hamburgerology or the disciplined study of rootbeerology! Either way, its a side trip I've got to make. (Of course with stops in Marland, Ponca City and Blackwell too!)

Now enough about the trip itself. It's an adventure. What do I want you, my followers and readers to know? I have this one last week in Brownwood to tie up my loose ends, to see people that I will miss in Montana, or simply never see again. I've made good friends in Brownwood and I will miss them. If there is anything that I have found out over time, it is that places come and go, but a friend is a friend to the end. I don't want to leave this place without these people knowing that each one of them has made a mark on my life and that I'm a better person because they made it a point to befriend me. From the youngest to the oldest, I'm honored by the lives of these people. So I have one last week. I hope to make it count!