In repsonse to overwhelming requests...I have produced a "Week's Best and Worst" list to pacify the clamoring masses and give the people what they want. Okay...so there weren't any "requests"...not even a curious, "how was your weekend Ben". But regardless, I thought I'd pass this inane info along at least so the really bored people at work who read the internet instead of doing their work can be entertained.

-*-*-*BEST*-*-*-
1) Getting back up to Montreat with the family, or more importantly...getting AWAY from Athens and Marietta.
2) Finding YUENGLING BEER at the BiLo in Black Mountain...haven't EVER seen this before in a store down south till now.
3) Having to wear a jacket at night, put on extra covers in the middle of the night...and waking up to that sweet-floral smell that every molecule of North Carolina air is saturated with [oops...I ended that sentence with a preposition...please forgive me, Jason and Anna].
4) Actually having time to relax, read, and THINK about this coming fall and the LORD's GOODNESS in preparing me for it
5) Experiencing one of the most profoundly CHRIST-CENTERED and edifying worship services I can remember attending. It was at the Montreat Assembly Hall on Sunday and the sermon was on justification...notes will be posted shortly. More and more, I think the Church Universal (at least the Church still here on earth) would be much better off if she heard more sermons on the supremely beautiful and marvelous doctrine of Justification.

-*-*-* WORST*-*-*-
1) Trying to climb a [shamefully small] mountain with my Dad and sister, only to get winded within the first 4 minutes and wake up the next morning with a bum knee and stiff back. After this and other recent bodily fiascos, I'm convinced the human body goes on "standby mode" after the 25th year...only crucial body parts/processes continue to function without intense stiffness, malfunction, and/or pain.
2) Getting back into cell service and hearing that dreaded beep that tells you of hoards of people are anxiously waiting for you to call them back (okay...I had 1 message...but still...I wasn't too thrilled to have to listen to it at the time)
3) Driving over the Sugarloaf Parkway hill on I-85 only to see miles and miles of brown, opaque smog enveloping the angry Yankee enclave people call "Atlanta".
4) Remembering that I have 74,348 pages of reading left to do before my second stint of RUF training that begins in two weeks :)
5) Having to listen to this awful GOTH music here in the coffee shop (Hot Corner, for you townies who care) while I finish this blog...I'm pretty certain I could train a spider monkey how to produce better "music" than these wailing weirdos.

Aren't the NC mountains WONDERFUL?? And yes, the drive down to Atlanta is sooo depressing: it just gets flatter and flatter, the road wider, the air hotter. And then you're in Smogville.

Am glad to hear how RUF training/support-raising is going! Excited about what's to come for you, there, Ben.

Yeah...the drive back is such a striking re-entrance into all the negatives of urbanity...which makes leaving WNC all the more difficult and dreaded. If Asheville had more jobs, I think I'd move up there in a heart beat. Good to hear from you, Rebecca!

I don't understand where the picture featuring the fully clothed dog fits into this post...was he one of the worst or best parts of your week?

Erin...that's a picture of Mickey...on his 91st Birthday, enjoying a gentle swing with my sister. He's definitely on the "best" part of week list.