Today has been quite the mix of activities. It began as usual, waking up with the “It can’t possibly be time to get up!” feeling. It included breakfast with my family and then an unplanned (for me) trip to Atlanta to drop off my older sister. She’d considered taking Groome but my dad insisted on visiting the Civil and Human Rights Museum (this could be a great activity as a church!) and then dropping her off. And last minute, I decided to tag along, laptop in tow.
On the way there, I prepared a draft of the agenda for our Board meeting this Sunday, worked on this newsletter, and exchanged some emails. About 40 minutes into our self-guided tour, I jumped on a phone call with a pastor in another region who is just starting in her role which includes looking out for ACF students at a nearby university. She wanted some ideas on how to do meaningful outreach with the students. So, I pulled from my memories and lessons of the 8 years prior to coming to Athens.
Having completed the lower floor before the phone call, I then continued on to the next two floors. There’s one portion you just have to experience for yourself. It helps you get a sliver of a sense of what it would have been like to participate in a restaurant sit-in. All I can say is “Have mercy!” There’s a reason for the tissue boxes scattered about the museum. You can’t experience that and then chat about the weather–I needed space to process.
Because of our limited time, we went through the museum fairly quickly (yet it was worth all the dollars and I’ll go again) and then drove to the airport. On the way there, my mum made us sandwiches and we snacked on nuts and grapes. We said goodbye to Abigail, waiting to get her “I’m through security” text message, then headed home. And on the way home, I continued to work on the agenda, newsletter, and swapped more emails, while getting advice from my dad on leading a church.
And as I think about how the day will end–how we’ll eat supper, possibly take the girls swimming, how I’ll try to squeeze in some more church items and maybe read a bit from a book I recently purchased–I hope that I go to bed at a decent (pre 10:30pm) hour with a sense of contentment.
